
Class tl%l 

Book LJl 



Copight]>l" 

COFVRIGHT DEPOStr. 



TEXAS 

HISTORY 

STORIES 




SIX NUMBERS, EACH lOc. 
IN ONE VOLUME, CLOTH, 50c. 



\. Cabeza de Vaca, La Salle 
II. Ellis P. Bean, Stephen F, Austin 

III. Sam Houston, David Crockett 

IV. The Alamo, Remember Goliad, Story 

of San Jacinto 

V. Drawing the Black Beans, Casfle Pe- 

rote 
VI. Brave Dick Dowling, Robert E. Lee 



B. F. JOHNSON PUBLl5HINa CO, 
Richmond, Virginia 



TEXAS 

HISTORY STORIES 

By e. g. littlejohn, a. m. 

Principal West Broadway School, Secretary Texas Historical 
Society, Galveston, Texas 

COMPLETE 




RICHMOND: 

B. F. Johnson Publishing Company 

1901 



THE LiSRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Cof-icd Received 

OCT. 19 1901 

COPVRtGHT ENTRY 

CLASS (X. XXc. No. 

COPY a 



Copyright, igoi. by E. G. Littlejohn 



All rights reserved 



CONTENTS 



BOOK 1 
Cabeza de Vaca La Salle 

BOOK II 
Ellis p. Bean Stephen F. Austin 

BOOK HI 
Sam Houston David Crockett 

BOOK IV 

The alamo Remember Goliad 

Story of San Jacinto 

BOOK V 
Drawing the Black Beans Castle Perote 

BOOK VI 
brave Dick Dowling Robert e. lee 



CABEZA DE VACA 




HEffrAl^tN&TKg SPANIARDS IN TH€»8 AflWS.,THEY CftiftWtP THEM TO THE NEAREST VILLAGE 



Texas History Stories 



CABEZA DE VACA 

Cabeza de Vaca, the head of a cow; what a strange 
name for a man! 

Many, many years ago, before Washington was born, 
and before Columbus had discovered America, the 
kings of France and Spain were at war with the Moors, 
a heathen people who lived in Africa. With great 
armies they had crossed the narrow strait of Gibraltar 
and taken possession of the best i)arts of Spain. 

A long and cruel war followed. But the Spaniards 
were not strong enough to drive them back. Then the 
French came to the help of the Spaniards. The two 
armies moved against the enemy. High mountains lay 
between them and the enemy's country. When they 
came to the mountains, they found all the passes 
strongly guarded by Moorish soldiers. In these narrow 
and dark passes one man could withstand a thousand. 
It would not do to risk a battle here, 
ka-ba'-sa da va'ka 
(7) 



8 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

The armies were about to return when a soldier pre- 
sented himself to the king of France, and offered to 
show him a road through the mountains that was not 
held by the enemy. The soldier was sent with others 
to find and mark the pass. This they did by setting up 
at the entrance of the pass the skeleton of a cow's head. 
The armies passed through the mountains in safety and 
won a great battle over the Moors. 

That his brave deed might never be forgotten, the 
soldier was made a knight and his name was changed 
to Cabeza de Vaca. 

More than a hundred years before La Salle landed at 
Fort St. Louis, another Cabeza de Vaca made a won- 
derful journey across Texas and claimed the country for 
the king of Spain. It is the story of this wonderful 
journey that you are now to hear. 

In the history of the United States you may read how 
the old Ponce de Leon, in search of the Fountain of 
Youth, discovered Florida, the beautiful "Land of 
Flowers," and claimed it for his master, the king of 
Spain. 

In 1527 the king sent Narvaez, one of his best gene- 
rals, to explore and settle the country. Narvaez tool: 
with him five ships and six hundred men. Cabeza de 
la sal pon'tha da la-6n' nar-va'eth 



CABEZA DE VACA 9 

Vaca was commander of one of the ships. On the voy- 
age they were caught in a dreadful storm and two of 
their vessels were lost. Cabeza narrowly escaped 
drowning. 

When they landed in Florida, they found the country 
poor and the natives unfriendly. Notwithstanding this 
they set out to look for gold and for a suitable place to 
make a settlement. Many difficulties beset them on 
the journey. Every step was dogged by Indians, who, 
from behind trees and fallen timber and from the shal- 
low waters of lakes, where they stood nearly covered 
with water, attacked them with bows and arrows. 

At two hundred yards the Indians seldom missed 
their aim. Their bows were eight feet long and as 
thick as a man's arm. A white man could hardly bend 
one. With these powerful bows they could drive an 
arrow deep into the bodies of great trees and quite 
through a man or a horse. 

To add to their troubles, a strange sickness broke out 
and spread rapidly through the army. Scarcely a man 
was fit for duty. Many died. Provisions were scarce 
and starvation looked them in the face. 

The ships had been ordered to sail around the coast 
and to wait for the army at the first good harbor that 
should be found. Party after party was sent out to 



10 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

search for the ships, but all returned unsuccessfuL The 
truth of the matter was that the captain of the ships, 
concluding that Narvaez and his men had all perished, 
had set sail and returned to Spain. 

What was to be done? To stay where they were 
meant death from sickness and starvation; to march 
further inland, a worse death at the hands of the In- 
dians. The sea was their only way of escape. But the 
ships Avere gone! The land of flowers had become a 
land of misfortune. What should be done! 

They might build boats, but there was not a man in 
camp that knew even how to begin such a work. They 
had no tools, no iron, nor anything that was needed to 
build a boat. From sickness and lack of food, most of 
the men were too weak to work. 

They must do or die. "Where there's a will there's a 
way" is an old and true saying. These men had the 
will to build boats, and the way to build them soon ap- 
peared. 

From the iron of their stirrups they made axes and 
nails. Sails were made from the shirts of the men, 
and ropes from the manes and tails of the horses. 
Pitch was obtained from the neighboring pine trees 
and tow from the fibres of the palm. In little more than 



CABEZA DE VACA 11 

a month five boats were reath^, each large enough to 
hokl fift}^ men. 

They now set about to get food and water for the 
voyage. Corn was taken from the Indians. The few 
remaining horses were killed for meat. The skins of 
the horses' legs were taken off whole and made into 
bags for carrying water. 

And now from a strange land they sailed out upon 
an unknown sea. One of the boats was commanded by 
Cabeza de Vaca. All were so heavily loaded that 
scarcely more than a few inches remained above water. 
The men were so crowded they could not move without 
danger of upsetting the boats. Not a single one of 
them knew how to sail a boat. 

For thirty days they sailed westward along the coast 
of the Gulf of Mexico. In their frail vessels they dared 
not trust themselves far out to sea, and they hoped by 
keeping close to the shore to find some Spanish settle- 
ment. 

Misfortune still followed them. Their provisions 
gave out. The water bottles rotted, and for days and 
days they had no water to drink. Many of the men, 
crazed from thirst, drank the salt sea water and died in 
great agony. Whenever they went ashore to get water, 
they were attacked by Indians, and soon many of their 



12 TEXAS HISTORY STOKIEjS 

number were killed or wounded. Some were taken pris- 
oners by the Indians and never heard of afterward. 

One afternoon they came to the mouth of a broad 
river. The men eagerly slaked their thirst from the 
fresh water which the mighty current of the river car- 
ried far out to sea. For three days they toiled at the 
oars, straining every nerve to reach the shore. But all 
in vain. Human strength was powerless against the 
mighty current. \Yhen they could row no longer, the 
oars were cast aside and the little boats drifted help- 
lessly out to sea. 

One dark night they became separated, and now, in- 
deed, all hope seemed to be gone. What must have 
been the feelings of the men when the morning light 
showed them to be alone on the wide, wide sea! 

Finally Cabeza's boat was cast ashore on an island. 
The Spaniards named the island Malhado, meaning ill- 
luck. On the maps of the present day it is known as 
Galveston Island. 

They built a fire and parched the little corn they had 
on hand. From pools of rain water they slaked their 
thirst. One of the men climbed to the top of a tree to 
get a look at the country. He saw that the island was 
inhabited by Indians. This news gave the Spaniards a 

mal-a'do 



CABEZA DE VACA 13 

great fright. They feared the Indians might be un- 
friendly, and the}' were in no condition to fight. 

In a short while the Indians, all armed with bows 
and arrows, came down to the shore. They were not 
large, but the fears of the Spaniards made them look 
like giants. To gain their friendship, Cabeza gave them 
beads and bells. In return the^^ gave him an arrow. 
They also brought fish and roots to the Spaniards and 
treated them kindlj. 

Food and a good night's rest made the Spaniards feel 
like new men. The next morning they prepared to re- 
new their journey. The boat had settled in the sand of 
the beach, and was dug out with much difficulty. They 
got provisions and water from the Indians. Joyfully 
the men took their places at the oars. The sails were 
unfurled to the morning breeze, and the little craft 
moved slowh' out upon the water. 

The tide was running high. When but a little way 
from the shore, a great wave passed over the boat, fill- 
ing her with water, drenching the men and ruining the 
provisions. She threatened to sink every moment. All 
hands set to work to bail her out, but the next minute 
another wave completely upset her. Three of the men, 
seeking to save themselves b^'^ clinging to the boat, 



14 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

were carried under and drowned. The others, more 
dead than alive, were thrown violently upon the beach. 

They were in a sad plight. That they might work 
better when digging the boat from the sand, the men 
had partly stripped themselves of their clothing. This 
was lost with the boat. The weather was very cold, 
and with no covering for their bodies they were in dan- 
ger of freezing. The boat gone, there was no hope of 
escape by way of the sea. They had no arms to protect 
themselves, should the Indians prove unfriendly. 

The Indians, not knowing of their attempt to escape, 
returned in the evening, bringing roots and berries. 
Great was their surprise at finding the white strangers 
in such a state. Savages as they were, their hearts were 
touched at the pitiful sight. They made know^n their 
sympathy by loud and mournful cries for the space of 
half an hour. Then taking the Spaniards in their arms, 
they carried them to the nearest village. Word was 
sent ahead to build houses for the strangers and to have 
fires ready for them to w^arm by. The Indians vied with 
one another in showing kindness to their guests, who 
were looked upon as superior beings. There was great 
rejoicing in the village. There was feasting and danc- 
ing the whole night through. 

Some days afterwards Cabeza saw a European article 



CABEZA DE VACA 15 

iu the hands of an Indian. He knew it had not been 
brought by his party, and he asked where it came from. 
He was told that it was a gift from some other men 
like the Spaniards, who were not far off. Cabeza was 
astonished and delighted. He sent a small party at once 
to seek for these men and bring them to the village. In 
a short while the party returned with the entire com- 
pany from one of the other boats, which had been 
wrecked on a different part of the island. There was 
great joy over this meeting. There were hand-shakings 
and embracings, and then embracings and hand-shak- 
ings again. And such a talking as there was, as they 
told one another of their adventures! 

The entire party now numbered forty men. They set 
about at once making plans for escape. They built an- 
other boat, but as soon as it was launched it sank to the 
bottom of the sea. 

There was now no choice but to pass the winter on 
the island. "Hope springs eternal in the human breast.'' 
It sustained the Spaniards in their terrible march 
through the trackless swamps of Florida; it cheered 
each little boat when alone and in the darkness it 
drifted out to sea. When the clouds of misfortune hung 
thickest, hope was the one star which shone steadily 
on. When the last boat sank, hope sank with her; but 



16 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

soon it arose fresh and smiling and pointed to the west 
where the Spanish settlements lay. 

It was agreed that four of the strongest men, all pow- 
erful swimmers, should swim across the bay and search 
for the settlements which were thought to be not far 
away. From the settlements help could be sent to the 
wretched party on the island. 

"Misfortune travels in a train.'' "Ills on ills attend." 
Soon after the four men left, a severe spell of weather 
set in, which lasted for weeks. Having no coverings 
for their bodies and little protection from the weather 
in the rude huts of the Indians, many of the men died 
from exposure. 

The Indians could no longer find roots; their fish nets 
caught nothing; starvation again set in. A plague 
broke out on the island, from which half of the Indians 
died. It carried off all but fifteen of the Spaniards. 
These were separated and made slaves by the Indians. 

In the spring they were taken to the mainland, where 
Cabeza became very sick. During his illness the others 
escaped from their masters, and, leaving him to his 
fate, started westward down the coast. 

For six years Cabeza led a slave's life, sometimes on 
the mainland, sometimes on the island. He lived naked 
and in all respects like an Indian. At first he was made 



CABEZA DE VACA 17 

to do the hardest kind of work. He afterwards said: 
"I had to get roots from below the water and in the 
cane where they grew in the ground; and in doing so I 
had my fingers so worn that did a straw but touch them 
they bled." 

Later on he fared better. He was a clever trader, 
and his masters allowed him to travel long distances 
for the purpose of trading. In this way he learned much 
of the surrounding country, and noted the best way to 
take whenever he should get a chance to escape. 

On one of his visits to the island he found another 
Spaniard, who, like himself, was sick when their com- 
panions escaped. This man's name was Lope de Oviedo. 
Cabeza made known his plan of escape to Oviedo, and 
together they started down the coast. After several 
days' traveling they came upon some Indians, who said 
that three white men were living with their tribe. 
These men were all that remained of the first party that 
escaped. Five of the party had been killed by the In- 
dians, and the others had died from cold or from ill- 
treatment. The three remaining ones were treated 
with the greatest cruelty. 

On hearing this Oviedo refused to go farther, and 
returned to the island. Cabeza was thus left again 
lo'pa da o-ve-a'do 



18 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

entirely alone with this new tribe of savages. Two 
days later he joined the other three Spaniards, who 
were much astonished at seeing him. The Indians had 
told them that he was dead. Cabeza says of their meet- 
ing: "We gave many thanks at seeing ourselves to- 
gether again, and this day was to us the happiest that 
we had ever enjoyed in our lives." 

They at once set about planning to escape. But for 
two years no chance of escape was offered. All this 
time the Spaniards suffered much from hunger and ill- 
treatment. Often they had to eat worms, lizards and 
snakes, and even earth and wood to keep themselves 
from starving. Three times Cabeza was almost killed 
by his masters. 

"Success waits on him who perseveres.'' The Span- 
iards at last got away and took up the search for the 
settlements in Mexico. For the first few days they 
traveled with all speed, fearing lest their Indian mas- 
ters should overtake them. 

They soon came to another tribe, where they were 
treated kindly, and where they stayed eight months. 
While here a very strange thing happened. Fortune 
smiled upon the Spaniards. From being slaves and the 
most miserable of men, they became masters of the 
Indians. There was no more ill-treatment now; no 



CABEZA DE VxVCA 19 

more hard work. They were thought to be chihln^n of 
the sun, and everything the Indians had was given up 
to them. 

This is how it came about: The same night of their 
arrival some Indians came to Castillo, one of the Span- 
iards, saying they had great pain in the head, and beg- 
ging to be cured. Castillo made the sign of the cross 
over them and commended them to God; whereupon 
they said the pain was gone. Then they went back to 
their houses, but soon returned with venison for the 
Spaniards. Many others, hearing of this cure, came to 
be healed. Each brought a piece of venison, and soon the 
Spaniards had more meat than they could dispose of. 

From tribe to tribe the Spaniards wandered for many 
days. Wherever they went they were attended by hun- 
dreds, even thousands, of the natives. These followers 
would take neither food nor drink till Cabeza and his 
companions had breathed upon and blessed it. When 
a new village was reached, the whole people would 
turn out to be touched and blessed. At times they 
pressed upon the Spaniards so closely as to endanger 
their lives. From far and near the sick were brought 
to be healed. 

At one village the Spaniards desired the natives to 
kas-teeryo 



20 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

conduct them on their journey toward the west. This 
the Indians refused to do, saying that their enemies 
lived in that direction. The Spaniards persuaded, but 
still they objected. At this refusal Cabeza became 
angry and w^ent to sleep in the woods away from the 
village. 

The next day many of the Indians became ill and 
some of them died. They thought this trouble had 
come upon them because of Cabeza's anger. They be- 
lieved the Spaniards could cause their death by only 
willing it. They were in great fright lest more of them 
should die. They begged the Spaniards not to stay 
angry, and promised to guide them in any direction 
they wished to go. 

Toward the west, and ever toward the west, the 
Spaniards bent their steps. They came to a range of 
high mountains, and for days skirted along its base. 
Then they crossed a great river coming from the north. 
They passed through a desert, where they almost died 
of thirst and had nothing to eat but powdered straw. 

At last they came to a country where the people 
were more civilized. Their houses were several stories 
high and contained many rooms. Some were built of 
sun-dried brick and others of cane mats. 

At these villages the Spaniards were given buffalo 



CABEZA DE VAC A 21 

skins for coverings for their bodies. All these years 
they had gone naked. Cabeza says that not being used 
to it they cast their skin twice a year like serpents. 

It was here, too, that they first saw signs of approach 
to the settlements, which they had so long been seeking. 
On the neck of one of the Indians they saw the buckle 
of a sword belt, to which was fastened the nail of a 
horseshoe. On being asked where these things came 
from, the owner said they came from heaven; that 
white men with beards like the Spaniards had brought 
them. They had also brought horses and swords and 
lances. 

Cabeza and his companions were almost overcome 
with joy at this news. The end of their long journey 
was in sight. Their trials were almost over. Freedom 
and civilization would soon be theirs. 

A few days more of travel brought them up with a 
party of four Spanish horsemen. "They were aston- 
ished at the sight of me,'' says Cabeza, "and so con- 
founded that they neither hailed me nor drew near to 
make inquiry. I bade them take me to their chief, 
which they did." 

To the captain Cabeza told the story of their mar- 
velous wanderings, and asked them for guides who 
would lead them to the nearest Spanish settlement. 



22 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

On April 1, 153G, they reached the town of San 
Miguel, the first Spanish settlement they had seen in 
nearly ten years. The governor of the town wept at 
sight of them, and gave praise to God, who had pre- 
served them from so many dangers. 



By the ])(M)ple of Texas the name of Cabeza de Vaca 
should b(* held in remembrance as that of the first 
white man who ever passed through her territory. 

Look at your map of Texas. From Galveston Island 
draw a line down the coast to Matagorda Bay; then 
northwest, following the course of the Colorado Biver 
to San Saba; then west to the Pecos Biver; then to the 
Bio Grande, near El Paso, and you will have traced out 
t he route of Cabeza. 

san me-gel' san sii'ba pa'kos el pa'so 



LA SALLE 



LA SALLE 25 



LA SALLE 

The first white man to make a settlement in Texas 
was Robert Cavelier de la Salle. 

La Salle was a Frenchman. He was born at Rouen, 
Normandy, in 1643. His father was a rich merchant; 
and the boy was given all the advantages that great 
wealth can command. His parents intended him for 
the priesthood, and had him carefully educated for 
that purpose. He had a great liking for the sciences, 
and especially for mathematics, in which he made 
rapid advancement. Upon graduating, his teachers 
gave him a certificate of good character and of high 
standing in all his studies. 

La Salle w^as possessed of a strong will, and, when his 
mind w^as once made up, nothing could turn him from 
his purpose. He believed in himself and depended on 
himself. He was self-controlled and bore without a 
murmur whatever ills befell him. As a boy he was rest- 
less and fearless, and, when he grew to manhood, was 
always ready for any wild or perilous adventure. 

At this time thousands of Frenchmen were flocking 
to the New World in search of fortunes. Wonderful 

roo-on' 



2G te:xas history stokies 

stories were told of the land beyond the sea. There 
was the Fountain of Youth, that wondrous spring that 
would restore youth and beauty to all who bathed in 
its waters. There was El Dorado, the golden land, 
where the people ate and drank out of vessels of silver 
and gold. 

The boy, La Salle, heard these stories and longed 
for the time to come when he, too, might cross the 
waters and visit the new-found land. He could not 
study as he once did. The schoolroom seemed a prison 
to him. Every day he became more restless and dis- 
contented. A life of bold adventure was his only dream 
of happiness. At last he gave up the idea of becoming 
a priest, and at the age of twenty-four sailed for 
Canada, where his countrymen had already made set- 
tlements. 

And now the free life for which he had been longing 
was his. A continent lay before him, inviting explo- 
ration and promising adventures rivaling those of Sin- 
bad the Sailor. The whole of the great northwest was 
then an entirely unknown land. No one knew how 
large the continent was — whether one thousand or ten 
thousand miles across. Some thought that the Pacific 
Ocean was but a few miles west of the Great Lakes, 
and that by sailing up the St. Lawrence River and 



LA SALLE 27 

through the lakes a western route to China might be 
found — a problem that men had been trying to solve 
ever since the time of Columbus. 

We next hear of La Salle as a fur-trader near Mon- 
treal. In the heart of the forest he built a fort and 
established a trading post, where for several years he 
carried on a thriving trade in furs with the Indians. 
On one occasion he was visited by a band of Iroquois 
Indians, who spent the winter with him and told him of 
a great river rising in their country, many leagues to 
the west, and flowing into the sea. The Indians called 
this river Miche Sepe, meaning Father of Waters. 

At this news La Salle's imagination took fire. This 
was the long-sought route to the Pacific. Already he 
saw his ships anchored in the ports of China and Japan 
and loading with the precious stuffs that all the world 
wanted. Day and night these visions haunted him. 
He could not rest till he had seen the governor of 
Canada and obtained his permission to explore the 
country in search of the great river. The governor was 
his friend, and readily gave the desired permission; and 
La Salle set out on his journey to find the great Father 
of Waters. 

Ten long years he kept up his search; up the St. Law- 
rence, around the Great Lakes, and about the head- 



28 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

waters of the Ohio; through frozen forests and over 
trackless fields of snow; beset by every form of danger 
and enduring hardships that w^ould have crushed a 
less heroic nature. Several times his enemies tried to 
I)oison him. Often he was in danger of starvation and 
drowning. The Indians were hostile and his friends 
untrue. Yet through it all his spirit was calm and his 
temper unruffled. One of his party, Father Membre, 
writes of him thus: "Though La Salle told to us all his 
troubles, yet never did I remark in him the least change. 
Be always kept his coolness and self-possession. Any 
other person would have given up the enterprise. To 
him dangers and difficulties were but spurs to further 
effort, and made him more resolute than ever to carry 
out his discovery." 

He had set out to find the Mississippi; and this one 
thing he would do or die in the attempt. There is no 
power that can hinder "the firm resolve of a determined 
soul." 

On the 6th of February, 1682, La Salle paddled his 
canoes out on the broad bosom of the Mississippi. The 
river was much swollen, and borne on its current were 
vast masses of ice, floating down from the distant re- 
gions of the north. No boat could live in that icy flood, 
and further progress was impossible. The canoes were 



LA SALLE 29 

dragged ashore and the party encamped upon the banks 
of the stream to await the disappearance of the ice. 

Within a week the navigation was once more free, and 
the journey was resumed. Near the close of the first 
day they saw on their right the mouth of a great river. 
It was quite as large as the Mississippi, and its waters 
were thick with mud. It was the Missouri, wild and 
turbulent, rushing in from the far-away Rocky Moun- 
tains and the lonely western plains to share the notice 
of the great explorer. 

Here the party landed and visited an Indian village, 
where they were kindly received. La Salle was still 
intent on finding a passage across the continent to the 
Pacific Ocean; and from the Indians here he learned 
strange tidings that greatly excited him. He was told 
that by ascending the Missouri ten or twelve days he 
would come to a range of mountains where the river 
took its rise; and that from the top of these mountains 
he would have a view of the vast and boundless sea 
where great ships were sailing. 

Wishing to pursue his present course, however, he 
continued down the Mississippi. Three days more 
brought the party to the mouth of the Ohio. Here they 
encamped and the hunters went out for game. One of 



30 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

them, Peter Prudhomme, wandered off by himself and 
did not return. It was feared that he had been killed 
by the Indians, Searching parties were sent out in 
every direction to look for him, but no trace of him 
could be found. Giving him up for lost, the voyagers 
were about to embark when the missing man appeared. 
He had been lost in the forest, and for nine days had 
wandered about in a fruitless search for his compan- 
ions. He was half-dead from exposure and starvation, 
and the thought of being left alone in this far-off wil- 
derness had almost crazed him. 

Again the explorers embark. Day after day the cur- 
rent carries them swiftly along. With every turn of the 
river new scenes of beauty or grandeur open up before 
them. The cold and snows of the upper stream have 
been left behind, giving place to the hazy sunlight and 
warm, drowsy air of the realms of spring. The trees 
are robed in green, flowers bloom along the banks, and 
song-birds flood the forests with their joyous music. 

And now their journey's end is near. The water of 
the river becomes brackish and then changes to brine. 
The current falls to sleep^ and is succeeded by a gentle 
motion like the rocking of a cradle. The banks widen 
till they almost disappear. The breeze grows fresh 

pru-dom' 



LA SALLE 31 

with the salt breath of the sea. Farther on and — not 
the Pacific, but — the great Gulf of Mexico opens on 
their sight, ^"^tossing its restless billows, lonely as when 
born of chaos, without a sail, without a sign of life." 

The great mystery was solved at last. Returning a 
short distance up the river. La Salle landed, and with 
great ceremony took possession of the country for his 
king, Louis XIV of France. A massive column was 
raised, bearing the arms of France and inscribed with 
the w^ords: 

"Louis the Great Eeigns; April 9, 1682." 

Then La Salle, bareheaded, sword in hand, the flag 
of his country waving above him, proclaimed in a loud 
voice: 

"In the name of the most high and mighty * * * * 
Prince, Louis the Great, by the grace of God, King of 
France, * * * * Fourteenth of that name, I this 
ninth day of April, one thousand six hundred and 
eighty-two, * * * * do now^ take possession of this 
country of Louisiana, the seas, bays, harbors, ports, 
adjacent straits, and all the nations, peoples, provinces, 
cities, towns, streams, * * * * from the sources of the 
great river Colbert (Mississippi) as far as its mouth at 
the sea or the Gulf of Mexico." 



32 



TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 



These words were followed by prolonged shouts of 
"Long live the king" and a discharge of firearms. Be- 
side the column was buried a leaden plate bearing the 
inscription, "Louis the Great reigns/' and the names 
of all the Frenchmen of the party. This grand and im- 



I 



-^?','?f\ 







posing ceremony was concluded by another shout of 
"Long live the king" and another volley of musketry, 
followed by hymns of thanksgiving and praise. 

La Salle was a man of action. His greatest happi- 
ness was in achievement. Scarcely had the echoes of 



LA SALLE 33 

the hymns died away in the forest when there was born 
in his restless brain another mighty enterprise. This 
was a fair land, fitted to become the home of a great 
people. Here he would found a new and greater 
France. He would become its ruler, perhaps its king. 
With this thought in his mind he resolved to return to 
Canada, and from thence to France to lay his plans 
before King Louis, and get permission to make a settle- 
ment near the mouth of the Mississippi. 

The canoes were headed up stream and urged for- 
ward with all speed against the muddy current. There 
was no game to be taken in the vast swamps near the 
mouth of the river, and the party was almost famished. 
For several days there was little to eat except wild 
potatoes and the flesh of alligators. 

And now^ La Salle was struck down by a foe more 
subtle than any he had yet met — typhoid fever. For 
more than a month the burning fever raged. La Salle's 
bed was a mat in the bottom of a canoe, where he had 
scarcely room enough to turn over. Sun and rain beat 
down upon him. He had no physician, no medicine, no 
nursing. Daily he looked death in the face, but his iron 
will and strong constitution at last conquered. The 
sickness left him, but "so weak," he said, "that I could 
think of nothing for four months after." 



34 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

At length he reached Canada and sailed for France, 
landing at Rochelle on the 13th of December, 1GS3. He 
told the king of the mighty river he had discovered and 
of the beautiful country through which it flowed. He 
told of the great fortunes that might be made there 
trading with the Indians, and of the rich silver mines 
of Mexico that might be taken from the Spaniards. He 
told of the poor heathen Indians who might be made 
Christians, and in glowing words pictured the glory and 
honor and power that would come to France from the 
possession of this vast empire. 

These plans found favor in the eyes of the king, who 
promised every assistance in the undertaking. La Salle 
was made governor of all the lands he might discover, 
and four ships were placed at his disposal to make the 
voyage direct from France to the mouth of the Missis- 
sippi. 

The principal vessel w^as the Joli, a man-of-war 
armed with thirty-six guns. The second was a frigate, 
the BcU(\ a present from the king to La Salle, which 
carried six guns. The other two, the Aimahic and the 
aS7. Francis, were merchant ships, loaded with supplies 
for the settlers and goods to trade to the Indians. 
About two hundred and eighty persons embarked, in- 
ro-shel' zho-lee a-mabl 



LA SALLE 35 

eluding one hundred soldiers, seven priests, and seven 
or eight families of women and children. 

From Rochelle La Salle wrote a parting letter to his 
mother at Rouen: 

JIadame, My Most Ho^•oKED Mother: 

At last, after having waited a long time«for a favorable wind, and 
having had a great many difficulties to overcome, we are setting 
gg^il * * * * Everybody is well, including little Colin and my 
nephew. We all have good hope of a happy success. We are not 
going by way of Canada, but by the Gulf of Mexico. ***** 
: hope to embrace you a year hence with all the pleasure that the 
most grateful of children can feel with so good a mother as you 
have always been, * * * * and be sure that you will always find 
me with a heart full of the feelings which are due to you. Madame, 
My Most Honored Mother, from your most humble and most obedient 
servant and son, De La Salle. 

The four ships sailed from the harbor of Rochelle on 
the 24th day of July, 1G84. La Salle was on board the 
J oil. When four days out a violent tempest overtook 
them. The JoVi broke her bowsprit and had to sail back 
to get it mended. When the repairs had been made the 
fleet again set sail on the 1st of August. 

This beginning augured ill of the enterprise; and a 
wretched voyage it proved to be. A quarrel arose be- 
tween La Salle and his chief captain, Beaujen, com- 

bo-zhon 



36 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

mander of the Jolly which grew in bitterness as the days 
went by. At one time the fleet was becalmed, and for 
days and days the ships floated as upon a sea of glass. 

" Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down, 
'Twas sad as sad could be; 
And we did speak only to break 
The silence of the sea." 

" Day after day, day after day 

We stuck, nor breath nor motion 
As idle as a painted ship 
Upon a painted ocean." 

The calm was succeeded by a storm of great violence, 
which separated the vessels, and the store-ship, ^t. 
Francis, was run down and captured by a Spanish man- 
of-war. A grievous sickness, caused by the change of 
climate and crowded condition of the vessel, broke out 
on board the JoU. Fifty men, including La Salle and 
the two surgeons, were in the hospital. La Salle lost 
his reason for a time, and well-nigh his life. 

After sailing for two months the little fleet entered 

the Gulf of Mexico. All eyes now kept a sharp lookout 

for the mouth of the Mississippi. Day after day passed 

by, but no signs of the great river were to be seen. At 

last a wide opening was seen between two low points 
of land, and the sea around was discolored with mud. 



LA SALLE 37 

La Salle thought this was the Mississippi, but he was 
mistaken; it was Galveston Bay. 

La Salle had left one of his vessels behind, and he 
waited here five or six days for it to come up. He then 
sailed w^estward along the Texas coast and tried to 
land at several places, but the sand bars and breakers 
kept him back. At one place some Indians swam out 
through' the surf and were taken on board. La Salle 
was glad to receive them, as he hoped to learn from 
them something of his whereabouts; but their language 
was unknown to him and he could not understand their 
signs. 

Still keeping to the west, he saw immense treeless 
prairies, on which grazed great herds of deer, buffaloes 
and wild horses. He had seen no such country as this 
when he sailed down the Mississippi, and he began to 
fear that he was lost. This fear was well founded; he 
had made a mistake in his reckoning, and w^as now 
nearly five hundred miles west of the mouth of the 
Mississippi, near the Texas coast where it turns sharply 
to the south. Being convinced of his error, La Salle 
ordered the ships put about, and slowly coasted east- 
ward. 

They had gone but a short distance when they came 
to an inlet which a fog had prevented them from seeing 



38 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

before, and which proved to be Matagorda Bay. La 
Salle thought this was the western mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi, and landed his men. He carefully staked out a 
channel for the entrance of the vessels and ordered 
them to enter at the next high tide. On the 16th day 
of February, 1685, the Belle made the passage in safety 
and anchored inside the bay. 

A few days later the Aimable, in attempting to fol- 
low, was run aground by her captain, who hated La 
Salle and refused to obey his orders. La Salle was on 
(he shore watching her, and his heart sank within him 
as he saw her go upon the shoals. The Aimahlc con- 
tained all the ammunition, the tools, and provisions of 
the colony. Her loss meant ruin to La Salle and the 
great enterprise he had planned. It was a hard blow, 
but the great leader received it without wincing. He 
immediately set to work to float the vessel, but she 
would not budge an inch. Then with his own boats 
and some taken from the Indians, he began to remove 
the stores. He would save them at all events. A quan- 
tity of gunpowder and flour was safely landed. Then 
night came on, a storm arose, and the vessel was dashed 
to pieces. Morning showed the bay covered with bar- 
rels, chests and bales, and pieces of the broken wreck. 

The whole party were now encamped on the sands 



LA SALLE 39 

near the wreck of the Ahnahle. They were in a woeful 
plight. They had no water to drink except that taken 
from the bay, which was brackish and unwholesome, 
and their food was a porridge made of flour boiled with 
this brackish water. This bad food and water brought 
on a sickness, of which five or six died every day. 

In this helpless condition the camp was plundered by 
Indians, who carried away blankets and many other 
articles of value. The blankets could ill be spared, as 
the people had lost most of their clothing in the wreck, 
and were now suffering from cold and exposure. 

La Salle sent his nephew, Moranget, with a party of 
men to recover the stolen property. They went up the 
bay in a boat, and, coming to an Indian village, 
marched into it sword in hand. The Indians fled to the 
woods; and Moranget, seizing what blankets he could 
find and several canoes belonging to the Indians, com- 
menced his return to the camp. 

The party had not gone far before night overtook 
them, and it became necessary to land and wait for 
morning. They built a fire, stationed a sentinel, and, 
wrapping themselves in blankets, lay down on the dry 
grass to sleep. The sentinel soon followed their exam- 
ple, when all at once the forest resounded with dread- 

mo-run-zha 



40 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

ful war whoops, and a shower of arrows fell among the 
sleepers. Two of them were instantly killed; a third 
was severely wounded, and Moranget received an ar- 
row through the arm, and another cut a deep gash in 
his bosom. Faint and bleeding, he succeeded in reach- 
ing the camp of his friends and told the terrible news. 
La Salle immediately sent an armed party to punish 
the Indians, knowing full well that unless he did so 
more trouble might be expected. 

Beaujen, captain of the Joli, who all along had been 
angry with La Salle, now refused to obey his orders, 
and insisted on returning to France. He took with him 
sixty or seventy of the company, all of the cannon balls, 
and many of the stores belonging to the colony. La 
Salle and his party were left alone in the wilderness; 
a single small vessel, the Belle, lying at anchor in the 
bay, offered the only means of retreat or of further ex- 
ploration. 

Soon after Beaujen's departure. La Salle with five 
boats and a well-armed party of about fifty men set out 
to explore the surrounding country. He sailed up the 
bay to its head, where he found a river flowing in from 
the north. Taking it to be one of the mouths of the' 
Mississippi, he ascended it many miles. He found every- 
thing different from what he had expected. Instead 



LA SALLE 41 

of widening out into the great Father of Waters, the 
river narrowed rapidly; its waters were clear, while 
the Mississippi was thick with mud; instead of the low- 
lying shores of the Mississippi, covered with a tangled 
tropical forest, here were broad prairies on which vast 
herds of buffaloes were feeding. La Salle could no 
longer doubt; that this was not the Mississippi he was 
now sure, and he called it Lavaca, or Cow River, from 
the buffalo cows which he saw grazing on the banks. 

This discovery was a great disappointment to La 
Salle, but it did not abate one whit his determination 
to find the Mississippi. He knew no such word as fail. 
He selected a beautiful spot on the bank of the river, 
where, for the time being, he resolved to settle his peo- 
ple. When they were comfortably provided for he 
would resume his explorations. With this plan in 
mind he returned to the encampment on the bay. 

Here he found everything in confusion. Discontent 
and discouragement had taken hold of the people, and 
they were loud in their censure of La Salle for having 
brought them here to die in the wilderness. They had 
quarrelled among themselves, and a plot was discov- 
ered to kill Joutel, whom La Salle had left in command 
of the camp. They were in constant fear of the savag^, 
la-vak'-a zhoo-tel 



42 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

who often came around the encampment at night bark- 
ing like dogs and howling like wolves. They had still 
another cause for alarm . The Spaniards had threatened 
death to all w^hite men who should come upon these 
shores; and once they saw a sail which they took to be 
a Spanish war-ship coming to destroy them, but it 
happily passed by without seeing the encampment. 
One of the chief men of the company was bitten by a 
rattlesnake and died in dreadful agony. Another, while 
fishing, was swept away by the current and drowned. 
Two men deserted to live among the Indians. Others 
tried to escape, but were caught and punished. 

La Salle at once ordered the removal of the women 
and children, the stores, and most of the men to the 
Lavaca, where he began the erection of a fort. This 
was a most difficult undertaking. There was no wood 
within miles of the place, and no horses or oxen to drag 
it. While some of the men cut and squared the timber 
in the forest, others, harnessed like horses, dragged it 
over the prairie. The weather was hot, and the men, 
unused to this kind of work, soon gave out. The 
carpenters were found to be ignorant of their trade, 
and La Salle himself had to draw the plans and 
(ftrect the whole work. Food became scarce, sick- 
ness again broke out, and in a few weeks more than 



LA SALLE 43 

thirty of the colonists died. Despondency and gloom 
spread over the whole encampment — La Salle himself 
almost lost hope. 

The work went on, however, in spite of all discour- 
agements, and at length one large building was fin- 
ished. It was roofed with boards and buffalo hides, 
and divided into rooms for lodging and other uses. A 
cellar was dug beneath the building, and in the cellar 
the ammunition and other valuables w^ere stored as a 
protection against fire. Loopholes were left in the 
walls to ward off the attacks of Indians, and at the four 
corners cannon were mounted, which, for lack of can- 
non balls, were loaded with bags of bullets. A small 
chapel was built near by, and the w^hole was fenced 
with a palisade. To this little fortress La Salle gave 
his favorite name, Fort St. Louis. 

This work off his hands, La Salle was free to renew 
his search for the lost river. On the last day of Octo- 
ber, 1685, with a party of fifty men, he set out on his 
great journey of exploration. For weeks and months 
they wandered through the wilderness toward the ris- 
ing sun; but no glimpse of the river gladdened their 
eyes or lightened their hearts. Dangers beset them at 
^very turn. "They were obliged to swim swollen rivers; 
they traversed dangerous swamps and unknown 



44 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

forests; they fought with hostile Indians; they suffered 
the pangs of hunger and thirst; they were shaken with 
chills and parched with fever." At last, foot-sore and 
wearj^, without hats, clothed in rags, and shrunken to 
mere skeletons, what was left of the party returned to 
the fort. 

Here indeed things were in a bad way. The last re- 
maining vessel, the BfJIc, had been wrecked in the bay 
and was a total loss. Food was becoming scarce, and 
the ammunition was almost exhausted. The Indians 
were hostile and were daily becoming more bold in 
their attacks upon the fort. Deaths from sickness and 
other causes had reduced the number of the colonists 
to less than forty; and these had completely lost heart. 
These multiplied misfortunes bore heavily upon La 
Salle. Until the loss of the Belle he had thought, if the 
w^orst came to the worst, that the remnant of his little 
company might find their way back to France. This 
hope was now gone. He fell dangerously ill, and for 
many days his death was expected. 
He got well, however, and at once began to make ready 
for another journey. This time he took twenty men 
with him, among whom were his brother, Cavelier, and 
his nephew, Moranget. They journeyed in a north- 

kav'-le-a' 



LA SALLE 45 

easterly direction over plains gay witli flowers and 
green as emerald, and alive with countless herds of 
buffaloes. The animals were so tame that the hunters 
had no difficult}' in killing nine or ten of them. 

One day, when crossing a beautiful prairie, La Salle's 
Indian servant, ^Ika, suddenly cried out, "I am dead! 
I am dead!" A rattlesnake had bitten him on the leg, 
which instantly began to swell and throb with pain. 
With their pocket-knives they cut out the flesh around 
the wound and made deep gashes near, hoping that the 
free flowing of the blood would carry away the poison. 
They then applied poultices of herbs which they knew 
to be useful in such cases, and which soon reduced the 
swelling and relieved the pain. 

At length the}^ came to a broad river, which La Salle 
and a few others tried to cross on a raft. As soon as 
they pushed out from the shore, the rapid current seized 
the raft, and, after whirling it round and round, swept 
it down the stream, where it disappeared. The men 
on the bank were in great distress. They knew not 
what to do. All that day was spent in tears and weep- 
ing. Just before nightfall, when they had given La 
Salle up for lost, they saw him and his party advancing 
along the opposite bank. Several miles down the river 
the raft had struck a tree, which had been torn from the 



46 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

bank and had lodged in the middle of the stream. Seiz- 
ing the branches of this tree, the men dragged the raft 
out of the current; it was then an easy matter to guide 
it to the shore. Both parties spent the night in great 
anxiety. 

In the morning another raft was made, on which five 
men, all trembling with fear, safely crossed and re- 
joined La Salle. Two of the most timid ones were left 
behind. They dared not venture the passage; but, see- 
ing La Salle getting ready to march without them, 
they shouted across the river, begging not to be left. 
Their fear of being abandoned was greater than their 
fear of the river, and they quickly built a raft and 
crossed over to their companions. 

Journeying on they soon came to the villages of the 
Cenis Indians, on the Trinity River. They were re- 
ceived by the Indians in the most friendly manner. The 
chief, bearing the peace-pipe, came out to meet them, 
and by signs made them understand that they were 
welcome. "Then the whole village swarmed out like 
bees, gathering around the visitors with offerings of 
food and everything that w^as precious in their eyes." 
La Salle was lodged with the great chief and show^n 
every attention. His men were entertained with feast- 
ing and dancing. 



LA SALLE 47 

Horses were abundant among these tribes, and La 
Salle purchased several for the use of his party. A 
horse was readily given in exchange for an axe. 

After a delightful visit of three days among these 
hospitable people, the explorers continued their jour- 
ney. They had gone but a short distance when four of 
the men deserted and went back to live with the In- 
dians. Then La Salle and his nephew, Moranget, w^ere 
both attacked by fever, which caused a delay of nearly 
two months; and when they had recovered sufficiently 
to travel, it was thought best to return to Fort St. 
Louis. Their party was much reduced by desertion and 
death, their stock of ammunition was running low, they 
were five hundred miles from Fort St. Louis, and the 
Mississippi seemed as far away as ever. 

They w^ere greatly aided on their return by the 
horses bought from the Cenis, and they suffered no 
serious accident except at the crossing of the Colorado 
River. La Salle and two of his men were making the 
passage on a light raft of canes. Suddenly an enormous 
alligator raised its head above the water, and, quicker 
than thought, seized one of the men in its horrid jaws 
and drew him under. One short, loud shriek broke from 
the unfortunate man as the waters closed over him. 
For a moment the waves were discolored with his 



48 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

blood, a tiny whirlpool danced above his watery grave, 
and the great river flowed placidly on, giving no hint 
of the dark tragedy hidden in its bosom. 

On the 17th of October, 1686, the wayworn and sadly 
diminished party, after an absence of six months, re- 
entered the gates of Fort St. Louis. Of the twenty w^ho 
went forth only eight returned. The last ray of hope 
had departed from the fort, and a sullen despair had 
taken possession of the inmates. It was in vain that 
La Salle spoke words of encouragement and cheer; in 
vain he tried to persuade them that all was not lost, 
and that he would yet find a way to save them. His 
appeals fell on deaf ears; they would not be comforted. 

The question of finding the Mississippi now gave 
place in La Salle's mind to the more pressing one of 
saving the lives of his people. Aid could be had from 
Canada, and he resolved on xi journey thither, though 
two thousand miles of wilderness lay between. 

Two months w^ere spent in strengthening the fort and 
laying in a store of provisions for those who were to be 
left behind. Then all in the fort fell to work preparing 
an outfit for the travellers. There was such a dearth 
of clothing that the sails of the Belle were cut up to 
make coats for the men. 

At last everything was ready. The horses stood in 



LA SALLE 49 

the open square of the fort packed for the march, aud 
the little compauy, those who were to go and those who 
were to stay, gathered together for the final leave- 
takings. La Salle, in his faded, red uniform, called 
them closely about him and made them a last address 
so full of feeling that all were moved to tears. Twenty 
men, just half of the remnant of the colony, w^ere 
chosen to go on the expedition. Among them were La 
Salle's two nephews and his brother, Cavelier; Nika, 
La Salle's Indian servant; the trusty soldier, Joutel; a 
priest, Father Anastase Douay; Lioto, the surgeon, and 
Duhaut. These, armed and equipped for the journey, 
are drawn up in front of the gate; the last farew^ells 
are taken, and the little band of adventurers, "with 
measured tread and slow," file out of the enclosure. 
They cross the river and the prairies beyond; then 
woods and hills come between and shut Fort St. Louis 
forever from their sight. 

The journey was begun on the 12th of January, 1687, 
in a northeasterly direction. "They passed the prairie 
and neared the forest. Here they saw buffaloes, and 
the hunters killed several of them. Then they tra- 
versed the woods, found and forded the shallow and 
rushy stream, and pushed through the forest beyond, 
doo-ay' lee-o-to du-ho 

4 



50 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

till tlie}^ again reached the opeu prairies. Heavy clouds 
gathered over them, and it rained all night, but they 
sheltered themselves under the fresh hides of buffaloes 
Ihej had killed. Thej' suffered greatly from want of 
shoes, and for a time had nothing better to cover their 
feet than rude casings of raw buffalo hide, which thej 
were forced to keep always wet, as when dry it hard- 
ened about the foot like iron. At length they bought 
dressed deerskins from the Indians, of which they 
made tolerable moccasins.'' 

"The rivers, streams, and gullej^s filled with water 
were without number, and to cross them they made a 
boat of bull-hide, which they carried with them, strap- 
ped on the horses' backs. Two or three men could 
cross in it at once, and the horses swam after them. 
Sometimes they traversed the sunny prairie; sometimes 
dived into the dark recesses of the forest, where the 
buffaloes, coming daily from their pastures in long 
files to drink at the river, made a broad and easy path 
for the travellers. When foul weather arrested them 
they built huts of bark and long meadow grass, and, 
safely sheltered, lounged away the day, while their 
horses, picketed near by, stood steaming in the rain. 
At night they usually set a rude stockade about their 
camp; and here, by the grassy border of a brook or at 



LA SALLE 51 

the edge of a grove where a spring bubbled up through 
the sands, they lay asleep around the embers of their 
fire, while the man on guard listened to the deep 
breathing of the slumbering horses and the howling of 
the wolves that saluted the rising moon as it flooded 
the waste of prairie with its pale, mystic light." 

It was the middle of March, and the party had pro- 
ceeded as far as the Neches River, in what is now east 
Texas, when a quarrel among the men, which had been 
brewing all along, broke out into open violence. 
Duhaut and Liotot, the surgeon, hated La Salle and his 
nephew, ^loranget, and had sworn vengeance against 
them. Duhaut, being a man of property- in France, and 
having lost everything by this expedition, charged La 
Salle with being the cause of his ruin; Liotot charged 
him with having cau:ed the death of his brother. On 
one of the former journeys this 3'oung man's strength 
had failed and La Salle ordered him to return to the 
fort. On the way back he was attacked and killed by 
the Indians. 

The party encamped near a spot where La Salle on 

his preceding journey had cached — that is to say, hidden 

in the ground or a hollowed tree a quantity of beans 

and Indian corn. As provisions were getting scarce in 

nech'-ez cash-ayd' 



52 TEXAS IIISTOEY STORIES 

the camp, La Salle sent a party to find this hoard. 
These men were Duhaut, Liotot, Nika and Saget, La 
Salle's two servants, and three others. The food, when 
found, was spoiled; but as they were on their way back 
to camp they saw buffaloes, and Nika killed two of 
them. They cut up the meat and laid it on scaffolds for 
smoking", and sent word to La Salle to send his horses 
for it. 

Next morning a party of five, led by Moranget, with 
the necessary horses, was sent to bring in the meat. 
When they arrived at the hunters' camp, they found 
the men who were cutting up the meat for drying also 
cooking some of the choicest portions for themselves. 
At the sight of this Moranget, who was of a hot and 
testy temper, began to scold and threaten Duhaut and 
his party, and ended by seizing all the meat, including 
that which had been cooked. At this uncalled for con- 
duct, Duhaut's old grudge blazed out anew, and he 
drew off his men a short distance to take counsel to- 
gether how they should kill Moranget. 

^^Night came; the w^oods grew dark; the evening meal 
was finished, and the evening pipes were smoked." 
Huge fires were built, the guard was stationed, and, 
wrapping their blankets around them, all lay down to 
sleep. It was arranged that Moranget, Nika, and 



LA SALLE 63 

Saget, all of whom were to be killed, should keep the 
earlier watches of the night. 

Each of them has taken his turn, and now Duhaut is 
called. At a signal from him, his followers, who have 
only been seeming sleep, rise cautiously and make 
ready for the desperate deed. The fires have burned 
low. The deep and regular breathing of the victims 
shows that they are in a profound sleep. No evil is 
suspected. All goes well. Duhaut and one other stand 
with guns cocked, ready to shoot down anyone who 
resists or attempts to fly. Liotot, with an axe in his 
hand, creeps stealthily toward the sleepers and strikes 
a rapid blow at each. Nika and Saget are killed in- 
stantly. Moranget's skull is split from crown to chin, 
but he starts up as if he would resist his slayers, and is 
dispatched by a second blow. 

One crime always leads to another. Scarcely were 
the bodies of Moranget and his companions cold in 
death than a new crime was meditated. La Salle would 
inquire for his friends; he would learn of their death, 
and would take a terrible vengeance on their slayers. 
And so, taking counsel of their fears, the murderers 
resolved that La Salle, too, must die. 

La Salle at his camp six miles away awaited with 
impatience the return of Moranget and his party. He 



TEXAS HISTOEY STOKIES 



knew not why, but he felt that something had gone 
wrong with them. When, after three clays, they did not 



appear, he resolved to go <*wo. 



and look for them. Not 
knowing the 
way, he 




an Indian a hatchet to guide him. Then leaving Joutel 
in charge of the camp, with Father Anastase and the 
Indian guide, he set out in search of the lost ones. 



LA SALLE 55 

''lie was so troubled/' writes Father Anastase, "that 
he DO longer seemed like himself. All the way he talked 
to me of piety and grace, **'•'* and of the debt he 
owed to God, who had saved him from so many perils 
during more than twenty years of travel in America.'* 

At length they came in sight of Duhaut's camp, 
which was on the farther side of a small river. La Salle 
fired his gun as a signal of his whereabouts to any of his 
men who might be within hearing. Duhaut heard the 
shot, and guessing rightly by whom it was fired, he 
and Liotot, with guns cocked, crouched down in the 
long, dry, reed-like grass and waited for La Salle to 
come up. When within speaking distance La Salle, see- 
ing some one on the river bank, asked where was Moran- 
get. The man answered something that could not be 
understood and pointed to the spot where the two mur- 
derers were hidden. At the same moment a shot was 
fired from the grass, quickly followed by another, and, 
pierced through the brain. La Salle dropped dead 
(March 19, 1687). 

"The poor, dead body,'' writes Joutel, "was treated 
with every indignity. With barbarous cruelty they 
stripped it naked, dragged it into the bushes, and left 
it a prey to the buzzards and the wolves." 
L.ofC. 



56 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

Few names in the histor}^ of our country are entitled 
to stand so high on the roll of fame as his whose story 
has just been told. La Salle stands forth to the world 
as the hero of a fixed idea and a determined purpose. 
His purpose was more to him than life itself, and in its 
pursuit he dared every danger and endured every hard- 
ship. Like a rock that braves the tempest, he with- 
stood "the rage of man and the elements, the southern 
sun, the northern blast, fatigue, famine and disease, 
delay, disappointment and deferred hope," and died at 
last with his will unshaken and his purpose firm. He 
died with his great work unfinished, his purpose unful- 
filled, which has caused some to say that his life was a 
failure; but to this no Texan can subscribe, for Texas 
is La Salle's dream realized. 



ELLIS P. BEAN 



Texas History Stories 



ELLIS P. BEAN 

One hundred years ago, it will be remembered, Texas 
was a province of Spain. Spain was jealous of her 
colony and would ^not allow people from other coun- 
tries to settle there. The people of the United States 
in particular were refused admittance. One of the 
Spanish commanders said that if he had the power he 
would stop even the birds from flying across the Sabine 
River. 

At this time there were only three or four American 
families in all Texas, and they had become subjects of 
the king of Spain. In 1797 a young American named 
Philip Nolan came to Texas to get horses for the United 
States army; Thousands of wild horses roamed over 
the plains, and belonged to anyone who could catch 
them. Nolan soon got together a herd of two thou- 
sand and returned to the States with them. He made 
a map of the country through which he traveled, and 
this was the first map of Texas ever made. 

(5) 



6 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

Three years later, with a party of twenty men, Nolan 
came back to Texas for more horses. The Spaniards 
had heard of the map he had made. They thought he 
meant to bring an army into Texas, and that this map 
was to be his guide. He was declared to be a dan- 
gerous character, and a company of soldiers was sent 
to arrest him. He would not surrender, and a fight 
took place. At the first fire Nolan was killed. The re- 
mainder of his party surrendered on promise of good 
treatment. 

Among the prisoners was a young man named Ellis 
P. Bean. He was born in Tennessee in the year 1783. 
This was three years before the birth of David Crockett, 
who w^as also born in Tennessee. Like Crockett and 
Houston and other boys of that early day, he received 
very little schooling. When he left school, he could 
barely read and write. 

When he was sixteen years old, he wanted to leave 
home to visit other countries. His father said he was 
too young, and would not allow him to go. But at last 
his wish was granted. His father sent him down the 
Tennessee River on a trading voyage with a boat load 
of flour and other western produce. 

Bad luck attended him. When several hundred miles 
from home, at a place called Muscle Shoals, his boat 



ELLIS P. BEAN i 

Struck on a rock and broke in pieces. Everything was 
lost except a small trunk of clothes. With only five 
dollars in his pocket, he resolved to continue his 
journey. Kow was his chance to see the world. To be 
sure, his money would take him no great way, but when 
it gave out he could stop and work for more. 

Another boat soon came along bound for Natchez, 
on the Mississippi River. Bean was taken aboard, and 
in a few days was landed at Natchez. He had an aunt 
living there, to whose house he went. His aunt was 
very kind to him, and told him he must live with her. 
But he soon grew tired of this place. He wanted to 
travel and see more. 

About this time he met Philip Nolan. Nolan was 
getting ready for his second trip to Texas. He begged 
Bean to go with him. He told him of his adventures 
on his first trip; how he hunted the buffalo and how he 
chased the wild horses over the prairies. This was the 
very kind of life for which Bean longed, and he readily 
agreed to join Nolan's party. We have seen how this 
party was captured by the Spaniards. 

The prisoners were taken back to Nacogdoches, 
where they were told they would be set free. In this 
hope they waited about a month. Then, instead of the 
nak-o-do'chez 



8 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

expected freedom, they were put in irons and sent off 
under a strong guard to San Antonio. 

Here thej were kept in prison for three months. 
Then orders came for them to be sent to the City of 
Mexico. They were stopped on the way at a place called 
Potosi, where they were confined in prison for more 
than a year. 

All this time they were kept in irons and otherwise 
cruelly treated; they were poorly fed; their clothes 
were worn into shreds, and they had no money to buy 
more. Bean told his guards that he was a shoemaker, 
and asked permission to sit at the door of his prison and 
work at his trade. In this way he made a little money. 

In a short while Bean and his companions were 
changed to another prison, and then to another. They 
were thankful for the change. Prison life was not so 
terrible with something new to see, to think of, and to 
talk about. At the town of Chihuahua their irons were 
knocked off and they were told that they might walk 
about the town, but that they must return at night to 
sleep in the soldiers' barracks. 

Here Bean gave it out that he was a hatter. A gen- 
tleman loaned him some money with which he set up in 
business. He knew nothing about making hats him- 
po-to'si che-wa'-wa 



ELLIS P. BEAN d 

self, so he hired two Spanish hatters to work for him. 
^^In about six months/' he said, "I had so raised mj 
name that no one would buy hats except of the Ameri- 
can." He hired other workmen, and was soon making 
fifty or sixty dollars a week. He laid aside this money 
to aid him in escaping to his own country, which he 
was resolved on doing at the first opportunity. 

It was four years before an opportunity was offered. 
Bean wrote a letter to a fellow-prisoner living in an 
other town, telling of his plans, and asking this friend 
to escape with him. This letter fell into the hands of 
the governor, who at once had Bean arrested and 
thrown into a dungeon. He was heavily ironed and not 
allowed to see or speak to anyone. 

The day after his arrest he was surprised to see his 
prison door thrown open and one of his companions 
brought in sick on a litter. He had asked to see Bean 
before he died. It would be a comfort, he felt, to die in 
the company of a countryman. 

Five or six days afterwards a big Indian was brought 
into the same cell where Bean and his companion were 
confined. The sick man was now very low. Bean ex- 
pected him to die every moment. The Indian had 
brought a Jew's-harp with him, on which he played all 
the time. This greatly disturbed the sick man. Bean 



10 TEXAS HISTOEY STORIES 

asked the Indian in a friendly manner not to make the 
noise. The Indian answered that it was his harp and he 
would play when he pleased. Bean then went up to 
him and snatched the harp away from him and broke 
the tongue out. This made the Indian very angry, and 
he attacked Bean. The Indian was more than a match 
for Bean in size; besides, he was not so heavily ironed. 
Bean kept cool, however, and with a few well-aimed 
blows soon laid the Indian at his feet quiet and motion- 
less. 

Three days afterwards Bean's friend died and was 
carried away to be buried. Bean was again left alone, 
and for three months saw no one except the jailer. At 
the end of this time his irons were knocked off, and he 
was told that he might walk about the town as before. 
But this was a short-lived freedom. In less than two 
weeks he was again in his cell loaded down with irons. 
In a few days his companions who were still living were 
brought in, all heavily ironed like himself, and put in 
the same room with him. 

What was to be their fate none could guess. When 
they were first arrested, five years before, their case 
was taken to the king of Spain. All these years they 
had been kept prisoners waiting for the king's decision. 
At last it had come. One morning an officer came to 



ELLIS P. BEAN 11 

their prison and read to them the king's orders. These 
orders were that for firing on the king's troops every 
fifth man was to be hanged. As there were only nine of 
the prisoners, it was decided that only one had to die. 

Who would be this one? How was it to be decided? 
Some of the men were very much cast down and showed 
great fear. Bean tried to cheer them up. He said : "I 
told them that we should not fret ourselves about what 
we could not help; if we could find no way to escape 
the grave, it would be better to march up to it like a 
man than to be dragged to it like one dead; and as for 
myself, if I must die, I meant not to disgrace my coun- 
try." 

A drum, a glass tumbler, and two dice were brought 
into the room, and the men were told that they must 
throw for their lives. The oldest was to throw first and 
the youngest last. The one that threw the lowest was 
to die. 

The men were blindfolded and led to the drum. One 
by one they cast the awful throw of life or death. Bean, 
being the youngest, threw last. When all had finished, 
it was found that Ephriam Blackburn, the oldest of the 
prisoners, had thrown the lowest. The next day, after 
baptism by a priest, he was taken out and hanged. 

In three or four days orders came that Bean and four 



12 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

others were to be taken to a strong fortress at Acapulco, 
more than a thousand miles to the south. The rest 
Avere set at liberty. 

After a trying- journey of many weeks Bc^an and his 
couipanions found themselves at Aeapuico, a seaport 
town on the southern coast of ^Mexico. Its water front 
was guarded by a great stone castle. The walls of the 
castle were six feet thick and surmounted by one hun- 
dred great guns. 

The prisoners wx^re taken to the castle, where their 
names were called to see if all were present. When 
Bean answered to his name he was told to step to the 
front. He did so. Then an officer took him to the side 
of the castle, and, opening a small door, told him to go 
in. The door was then shut, and he was left alone with 
his thoughts. 

He found himself in total darkness. When his eyes 
had become somewhat used to the darkness, he looked 
about him. He was in a room about as long as a com- 
mon bedstead and not quite as wide. On all sides of 
him were the solid stone walls. At one end of the room 
was a small opening, grated with iron bars, which let 
in a little light and fresh air. In the door was another 

a-ka-poorko 



ELLIS P. BEAN 13 

openiog, also grated, about the size of the palm of a 
man's hand. 

In the evening an officer brought him a mat for a bed, 
some beef and bread, and a pot of water. For eleven 
months he was buried in this dungeon. Tie was allowed 
to speak to no one and to see no one but his jailer. 
Once a day the jailer brought him beef and bread and 
water. 

Besides the loneliness and the darkness, he was tor- 
tured by the terrible heat of this climate. At times his 
dungeon seemed like an oven. He would sit for hours 
with his mouth at the little grated opening in the door 
panting for a breath of fresh air. 

He had told his companions, "There is no use in fret- 
ting over what cannot be helped." He now took that 
advice to himself. He did' not fret or worry. He be- 
lieved he should escape, though he knew not how. Not 
once did he think of giving up. He determined to do 
everything in his power to free himself. Though the 
walls were six feet thick he thought of boring- 
through them. Inch by inch he examined the walls for 
some crack or opening where he might begin his work. 
He searched every corner of his cell, many times over, 
for a nail, a piece of iron, or stone that could be used in 
boring. He could find nothing. 



14 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

One day a soldier on guard spoke kindly to him. 
Bean took this for a good omen, and asked the soldier 
to sell him a small knife, at the same time giving him a 
dollar. The soldier promised to do so, and, when night 
came, slipped the blade of a knife through the hole in 
the door. 

Bean's spirits rose. He held the knife at arm's length 
in the light of the window and looked at it lovingly. 
Now he would be free! Though the walls were twice as 
thick he w^ould cut through them! Alas for human 
hopes! The prisoner set to work with a will. The 
stones were so hard that he could make no impression 
upon them, and they seemed to grow larger with every 
stroke he made. The knife blade wore away faster than 
the stones. He tried several places in the wall in hope 
of finding a softer stone, but all were equally hard and 
unyielding. 

Bean threw himself on his mat to think. His eyes 
were still fixed on the wall. In the dim light he thought 
he saw something moving across the wall. He put his 
hand to his eyes and looked more closely. It was a 
large lizard. 

The lizard was snow-white and nine or ten inches 
long. It was engaged in catching flies. Bean was glad 
to have even a lizard as a companion. In watching it 



ELLIS P. BEAN 15 

he forgot for a while his prison and its terrible loneli- 
ness. His dungeon seemed less cruel since there was 
some living object to share it with him. 

He caught some flies and reached them up to the 
lizard on a straw which he pulled from his mat. He 
was delighted when he saw the lizard would take them 
off the straw. He kept this up for several days, when 
the lizard became so tame it would take the flies from 
his hand. Every morning as it came down the wall it 
would sing like a frog to let Bean know it was coming. 
In a little while it became so gentle that it did not leave 
Bean at night, but stayed with him all the time. 
• One day Bean learned from the guard that some of 
his companions were sick and had been sent to the 
hospital. Bean thought that he might be sent there too 
if he were sick, and that on the way he might find some 
means of escape. So he told the guard that he was 
sick, and asked that a doctor be sent for. When he 
heard the door opening he struck his elbows against 
the stones, which raised his pulse so high the doctor 
thought he had a fever, and ordered him to be sent to 
the hospital. A big Indian carried him there on his 
back. 

He still had on his irons, but to make sure of him his 
legs were put in stocks. The stocks were two large logs 



16 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

of wood fitting one upon the other, with half-circular 
holes in each for the prisoner's legs. To make a bad 
matter worse, thousands of insects crawled over his 
body and bit him day and night. 

Bean soon came to think that the castle and his 
lizard were more to be desired than the hospital with its 
insects and stocks. On the morrow he would say he 
was well and go back to his cell. But that night he was 
taken with a real fever, and was ill for twenty days. 

When he got well, he was started back to the castle 
guarded by two soldiers. His irons had been knocked 
off, but in their place a chain of about fifteen pounds' 
weight was fastened to each leg. lie could walk only 
by wrapping the chains around his waist. His illness 
had left him very weak, yet he determined to make a 
break for liberty. 

The party stopped at an inn by the roadside to get 
some refreshments. The soldiers, not thinking that a 
man, weak and chained as Bean was, would try to es- 
cape, did not watch him very closely. While they were 
busy eating and drinking Bean escaped through the 
back door and made for the woods near by. 

With a piece of steel which he had for striking fire 
he cut off his irons. Then, he says, "I sat down in a 
shady grove, where the singing of birds and the 



ELLIS I'. BEAN 17 

thought of being at liberty so charmed me that I was 
as happy as any king. Though I had been starved in 
the hospital I did not feel hungry, nor was I weak." 

At night he made his way back to the town and 
bought some bread, bacon and cheese. As he was pass- 
ing by another shop,, he heard within the sound of 
Dien's voices, speaking in English. He stejjped inside 
and found two Irish sailors who belonged to a ship 
I hat was lying at the wharf. 

The sailors took him to the captain of the boat, to 
whom Bean told his story. He told the captain that he 
Avas an American; that he was an escaped prisoner; 
that he wanted to leave this country and go with him 
on his boat. The captain said he would take him, but 
he muht hide himself until the next day when the boat 
sailed. 

Bean went back to the woods where he stayed thai 
night and all the next day. When night had come 
again, he went to the ijlace where the sailors had 
agreed to meet him. The sailors were waiting for him. 
They dressed him in sailor's clothes and took him on 
board the vessel. 

The boat was partly loaded with water pipes. Some 
of these were large enough for a man to crawl through. 



18 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

Bean was put into one of these pipes to bide him till 
the boat should sail. 

The governor had heard of Bean's escape and was 
searching everywhere for him. A guard came aboard 
the vessel to look for him, but could not find him. Soon 
after the guard left, the boat's cook, who had had a 
quarrel with the Irish sailors, w^ent ashore and told the 
!2uard that he would show them where Bean was. 

The ouard came back on board and the cook showed 
them the pipe in which Bean was hidden. Bean was 
dragged out and tied so that he could not move. He 
was then thrown from the vessel down into a small 
boat, which took him back to the city. Then he was 
carried to the castle, where he was ironed, and placed 
again in his little cell. 

This time he was almost ready to give up. There was 
no use trying to escape. It was his fate, it seemed, to 
pass the remainder of his days in a Mexican dungeon. 
If he should quit trying to escape, he might be treated 
better. Then other thoughts came. He remembered 
his few hours of freedom before going aboard the ship. 
The breath of the woods came floating in upon him. 
He called to mind the cool, shady nooks where he had 
rested himself; the delicious fragrance of the flowers; 
the joyful singing of the birds. 



ELLIS P. BEAN 19 

No, be would not give up! While there is life there 
is hope. One hour of freedom is worth an eternity 
striving to be free. His mind being at ease, Bean 
looked around for his lizard. There it was on the wall, 
but it seemed to be afraid of him. He reached up his 
hand for it, but it ran away. Bean fed it with flies, 
and in four or five days it became as friendly as ever. 

One year and five months passed by. Then one morn- 
ing an officer came to examine Bean's irons to see if 
they were secure. Bean heard the ofticer tell the 
guard at the door that he must have some rocks 
blasted. The guard answered that there were men 
enough to bore the holes, but no one who understood 
charging them. Bean's heart leaped into his throat as 
he listened. Here was one more chance of escape! One 
more chancel He spoke up quickly and told the officer 
that he knew all about blasting. The officer made no 
reply and Bean's spirits fell as suddenly as they had 
risen. 

Bean thought no more about the matter and was very 
much surprised three or four days afterwards to get 
orders from the governor to go and blast the rocks. 
His irons were taken off and a ten-foot chain was 
placed on each leg. He wrapped the chains about his 
waist and, with two : oldiers as a guard, started for 



20 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

the quarry. He found about fifty other prisoners at 
the quarry and only twenty soldiers to guard them. 
Bean quickly saw that here was another chance to es- 
cape. When the prisoners were taken to their quar- 
ters for the night, Bean told them of his plan. He had 
already bought arms which would be given to them 
secretly next da}. When they saw him carrying a 
basket of stones on his shoulder, they must be ready. 
He would try to take a gun from a soldier and they 
must do the same. 

Bean slept sweetly that night. He was sure that 
his plan would succeed. On the morrow he should 
taste the delights of freedom once more. His dreams 
were of singing birds, and trees and flowers; of home, 
a father's fond welcome, a mother's caress. 

Morning came. The prisoners went to their work. 
The signal for the attack was given. The soldiers fled 
at the first onset. Bean and an old Spaniard, who had 
come with him from Natchez, made off together. 
Another squad of soldiers tried to cut off their escape; 
but Bean with a gun and the old Spaniard with a hat- 
ful of stones made them retreat. A parting shot from 
the soldiers broke the old man's thigh and Bean had to 
leave him to be recaptured. 

Bean ran on till lie came to a mountain which he 




(21) 



BEA2H HIDING IN THE MOUNTAINS 



22 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

climbed. Here he sat down to rest and think what he 
should do next. His first thought was of his old friend, 
the Spaniard, whose loss grieved him very much. In 
the excitement of the battle and the chase, he had 
almost forgotten his chains. The next thing to do was 
to remove them. He had a razor and an old knife 
blade which he struck together and made saws; and 
and with these he quickly freed himself. 

As he was thinking which way he should go, he saw 
a soldier coming toward him up the mountain side. 
This gave him a great fright. Bean raised his, gun, but 
the soldier told him not to shoot as he was a friend. 
When he had come nearer, Bean knew him and was 
very happy to see him. 

The two men now set their faces toward the north 
and began their journey to the Land of Freedom. For 
fear of meeting soldiers and being recaptured they left 
the main road and took to the woods. They traveled 
very slowly as the woods were thick with vines and 
underbrush through which they had to cut a path. For 
two years Bean had walked very little and his feet were 
tender. They soon became blistered and the skin came 
off. "They were very painful," he said, "but the 
thought of being free made me the happiest man in the 
world." 



ELLIS P. BEAN 23 

At one time they were pursued by soldiers and es- 
caped by plunging into a lake which was full of alliga- 
tors. Often they had nothing to eat but the tender 
buds of the cabbage tree. 

Once more fortune played him a trick. One night 
just as Bean and his companions had crossed a small 
stream, thirty men rose up on the farther bank and or- 
dered them to surrender. Bean was determined to die 
rather than surrender. Death was more to be desired 
than life in a Mexican prison. So with only a stick for 
a weapon he charged the enemy. The next moment he 
was knocked senseless by a blow on the temple. 
When he came to himself he was so strongly bound 
that he could move neither hand nor foot. Next morn- 
ing horses were brought and he was taken back to Aca- 
pulco and the castle. 

This time he was chained to a large mulatto negro 
and put in a room with some twenty other prisoners. 
The mulatto was told to whip him if he did not obey. 
One morning they were taken into the castle yard to 
eat breakfast. As Bean reached for his bread the 
negro jerked the chain and threw him down. Near by 
was half a cow's skull with a horn on it. Bean seized 
this and with one blow knocked the negro down. He 
kept on beating him till the guard came and took the 



24 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

skull away. The mulatto begged to be let loose, and 
they were separated. 

Bean now had a wheel put around his neck. "It was 
so large," he says, "I could not reach the rim of it.'^ 
"Of all the modes of punishment this was new to me. 
I could not move with it." After four hours of torture 
the wheel was removed and he was taken back for the 
third time to his little cell and his lizard. 

The keeper of the castle feared that he would es- 
cape again and this time for good. So he wrote to the 
governor of the country and asked that Bean be sent 
to some other prison. The governor gave orders that 
he be sent to Manila in the Philippine Islands, ten thou- 
sand miles across the great sea. He was to go in the 
first ship that sailed. Bean was pleased to hear this 
news. He knew that savages lived in that country 
and among them he hoped to find some chance to 
escape. 

At this time the Mexican people were trying to free 
themselves from Spain. They were led by a priest 
named Morelos. Both sides needed soldiers. People 
from the United States came to the help of Morelos. 
The Spaniards opened the prison doors and set at lib- 

mo-ra' los 



ELLIS P. BEAN ZO 

erty all prisoners who would promise to fight for the 
king of Spain. 

Bean was the only one left in the castle at Acapulco. 
The Spaniards wanted his help, but they feared to trust 
him. One day an officer came to his cell and asked 
him if he would fight for the king. Bean told him he 
would gladly do so. His irons were then knocked off 
and a gun was put into his hands. 

Bean did not mean to fight for the king longer than 
he was obliged to. His heart was with the people. 
He knew the wrongs they had suffered and he wanted 
to see them free. 4^fter all he himself had undergone, 
the king's service was hateful to him. He was de- 
termined to leave it at the first opportunity and join 
the patriot army. 

The opportunity soon came. Bean with seven others 
was sent to find out where Morelos was. When his 
camp was found, Bean left his companions at a farm- 
house and went on ahead to find out what he could 
about the enemy. He met a company of Morelos' sol- 
diers to whom he gave himself up as a prisoner. He 
told where his companions were and they were taken 
also. Bean was bound fast so that his companions 
should see that he was a prisoner. 

Bean told Morelos that he had come to fight with 



26 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

him for the liberty of the country. He was given com- 
mand of a company and fought bravely through the 
war. At one time he captured Acapulco and the gov- 
ernor of the castle who had treated him so cruelly. 
Another time he was offered ten thousand dollars to 
fight for the king. To the officer who made the offer 
Bean wrote this reply: "I have to state that I am very 
poor but, for all that, your king has not money enough 
to buy me or make me a friend of a tyrant, when I have 
been rocked in the cradle of liberty from infancy.'^ 

When the war was over, Bean visited his old home 
in Tennessee. Almost twenty years had passed since 
he went away to see the world. His father and mother 
were dead. The friends of his boyhood days had grown 
up to be men and women. Few remembered him. He 
was a stranger in the land of his birth. 

With a saddened heart he returned to Mexico which 
was henceforth to be his home. He married a rich 
Mexican lady with whom he lived quietly and happily 
until his death in 1846. 



STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 



STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 29 



STEPUEN F. AUSTIN 

Stephen Fuller Austin was a native of Virginia. He 
was born at Austinville, Wythe county, November 3, 
1793. 

His father was Closes Austin, a native of Durham, 
Connecticut, who married Miss Maria Brown of Phila- 
delphia. The family consisted of three children — 
Stephen Fuller, the eldest, Emily Margaret and James 
Brown. 

Moses Austin was educated a merchant, and carried 
on that business for a number of years at Philadelphia 
and Richmond, Virginia. Shortly before Stephen was 
born, he removed to Wythe county, where he had 
bought a lead mine, and began the manufacture of shot 
and sheet lead. He was a man of strong character, full 
of energy and determination. The idea of forming a 
settlement in Texas of people from the United States 
was first thought of by him, and he, instead of his son, 
might well be called the "Father of Texas." 

When Stephen was six years old the family removed 
to the distant and then unknown country of Missouri, 
where his father bought other lead mines. 

Missouri at that time was a perfect wilderness. Few 



30 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

white people lived there, and they were long distances 
apart. At the place where the Austins settled, (now 
Potosi, Washington county,) there was only one other 
white family. The country was full of wild Indians, 
who kept the settlers in continual fear for their lives. 
Sometimes they would suddenly appear before the 
white man's cabin, kill and scalp the father, and carry 
the mother and children away into captivity. You may 
read in a larger history of Texas how Lizzie Ross and 
Cynthia Ann Parker were thus carried away. 

Little Stephen often saw the Indians galloping over 
the prairies chasing herds of buffaloes, and their terri- 
ble war whoop was a familiar sound to his ears. When 
he was eight years of age, a large band of Osages at- 
tacked the settlement, purposing to rob IMr. Austin's 
house and store and kill all the whites found there. 
But Mr. Austin expected them, and was prepared for 
them. He had provided himself with plenty of guns 
and ammunition and a small cannon, with which he 
soon succeeded in driving them away. 

There were few schools in Missouri at this time, and 
the first to which Stephen was sent was forty miles 
away from his home. When he was eleven years old he 
was sent to school to Connecticut, his father's old home. 

po-to'si 



STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 31 

At first he received private lessons from the Kev. 
Horace Holley, the minister at Springfield, and a very 
learned man; then, for three years, he attended the 
academy at New London. His studies were completed 
at Transylvania University, Kentucky, when he was 
seventeen years of age. 

His school days over, Stephen returned home to "Dur- 
ham Hall," as Moses Austin's house was called, and en- 
gaged in business with his father, smelting and manu- 
facturing lead. The nearest market for the products of 
the mine was New Orleans. Once or twice a year a 
large boat was loaded with shot, pig, bar and sheet lead, 
and floated down the Mississippi to that city, where 
the cargo was sold. These voyages often occupied 
many months, and were full of dangers. Sometimes a 
boat would run aground on a sand bar, where it would 
have to remain until a rise in the river floated it off; 
sometimes it would be dashed to pieces on a sunken 
tree, or upset in the rapids and whirlpools. 

When Stephen was nineteen years old his father gave 
him charge of a boat and started him to New Orleans. 
For a while all went well ; then a storm arose. The wind 
blew a hurricane and the rain fell in torrents. The 
river was much swollen and the angry currents tossed 
the boat about like a plaything. At last the boat sank 



32 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

and Stephen barely escaped with his life. He got ashore 
on the plantation of General Wade Hampton, who 
treated him with great kindness and gave him every 
assistance. He stayed here till the river fell. Having 
procured another boat and raised his cargo, he pro- 
ceeded on his journey without further accident, return- 
ing home during the winter by land. 

One who knew Austin at this time describes him as a 
young man of much promise. He was educated, gentle- 
manly in his manners, kind and gentle in disposition, 
and a hard worker. These qualities soon won for him 
the good will of his neighbors, and when but twenty 
years of age he was elected to the Missouri legislature. 
They were so well pleased with him that he was re- 
turned again and again for six years. While in the leg- 
islature he was distinguished for his strength of mind, 
good sense and business habits. He was straightfor- 
ward and honest in his dealings with all -men. An emi- 
nent man who served with him in the legislature wrote 
of him : "Never during all these years did I ever hear of 
his truth, honor or integrity being called in question." 

Austin now moved from Missouri to Arkansas to 
open up a farm. His good name followed him, and the 
people here soon learned to love and trust him as those 



STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 33 

at bis old home had done, and in less than a year he was 
elected judge. 

About this time Moses Austin, by the failure of the 
Bank of Missouri, lost everything he had — money, 
mines, home, and at the age of fifty-five found himself 
a poor man, compelled to begin life over again. From 
Indian traders and trappers he had heard glowing ac- 
counts of the rich soil and delightful climate of Texas; 
so he resolved to take some of his countrymen there 
and make a settlement. 

Texas belonged to Spain, and, before making the set- 
tlement, it was necessary to get permission from the 
Spanish authorities at San Antonio. In the fall of 1820, 
he visited Stephen F. Austin in Arkansas and engaged 
his assistance in the undertaking. Stephen was to give 
up his farm and go to New Orleans to get colonists for 
the new settlement while his father went on to Texas. 

When Moses Austin reached San Antonio, he was 
coldly received by the governor and ordered to quit the 
country at once. By no persuasion could he get the 
governor to look at his papers of recommendation or 
listen to his plans. He must leave immediately. 
Greatly disappointed and for once in his life utterly 
discouraged, he was crossing the public square on his 
way back to the place where he had left his horses, 



^4r TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

when some one accosted him, "Are you Moses Austin? 
I am the Baron de Bastrop. If you remember, we met 
several years ago when I was traveling in the United 
States. You look downcast. What has happened? Can 
I be of any assistance to you?" 

Austin turned, and, recognizing De Bastrop, told him 
of his reception by the governor, and that he was on his 
way back to Missouri. 

Bastrop begged him not to go; invited him to his 
house; looked over his papers; listened to his plans, and 
promised to see the governor for him. He did so, and 
in a few days Austin left for Missouri with the as- 
surance that his request would be granted. 

Missouri was a long way from Texas in those days, 
and Austin's homey ard journey, made on horseback in 
the dead of winter, was accomplished with much diffi- 
culty. The country through which he traveled was an 
unsettled waste, haunted only by the wild Comanche 
Indians, the sworn enemies of everybody, especially the 
white man. The weather was very severe. One day he 
would be soaked with rain, and then, before his clothes 
could dry, a cold norther would come sweeping over 
the prairie, coating him in garments of ice and almost 
freezing him to death. The creeks and rivers were 
ba-tro ko-man'che 



STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 35 

swollen, and bad to be crossed by swimming or on rafts. 
He was robbed of his provisions by parties who were 
traveling with him, and, his powder having been dam- 
aged by the rain, he could kill no game; and for more 
than a week he was obliged to go without food except 
the acorns and roots he could gather in the woods. 

When he got home his health was ruined, and shortly 
afterwxirds he died, June 10, 1821. A few days before 
his death, how^ever, he heard the welcome news that 
permission had been granted him to settle three hun- 
dred families in Texas; and one of his last requests was 
that his son, Stephen, should carry out his plans. 

Stephen F. Austin w^as in New Orleans when he 
heard of his father's death. He immediately set out for 
San Antonio to see the governor and arrange for taking 
out the colonists. The governor received him kindly 
and gave him permission to select any place he might 
wish for the location of his colony. lie chose the rich 
lands lying between the Brazos and Colorado rivers, 
south of the old San Antonio road. 

He then returned to New Orleans for his settlers. A 
boat load of provisions was sent ahead, as there was 
nothing in the country for the people to eat. The sup- 
plies were landed at the mouth of the Brazos and hid- 



36 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

den in the bushes, and the boat returned for another 
load. 

Austin and his colonists reached the Brazos on New 
Year's Day, 1822, and commenced the new settlement 
in the midst of a wilderness. It was not a very happy 
New Year for them. Their provisions had been stolen 
by the Indians, and they had nothing to eat except the 
wild game the hunters could kill, such as buffalo, bear, 
deer, turkey and wild mustang horses. The presence of 
Indians in the country made buffalo hunting quite dan- 
gerous; bear and deer were very poor and scarce; mus- 
tang horses, however, were plentiful and fat, and for 
two years they formed the main articles of food. There 
was no bread or salt; and as for sugar, coffee, etc., such 
things were to be had only in dreams. Long and anx- 
iously the settlers looked for the return of the boat 
from New Orleans, but all in vain. Nothing was ever 
heard of her afterwards, and it is supposed that she was 
lost at sea with all on board. 

These were trying times to the colonists, but they 
were not discouraged. With brave hearts they set to 
work felling trees, burning underbrush, building them- 
selves log cabins, and laying off fields in preparation 
for the spring planting. 

A few months after his arrival on the Brazos, Austin 



STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 3T 

went to San Antonio to make a report to the governor. 
There he learned that a new government had been set 
up in Mexico that was not friendly to his plans; and 
that he must go at once to the City of Mexico and get 
his grant renewed. 

Austin was greatly surprised at this news and wholly 
unprepared for such a journey. There was no time to 
be lost, however, and, leaving Josiah H. Bell in charge 
of the settlement, Austin set out with one companion 
on the long and dangerous journey. The first day they 
traveled unmolested. On the morning of the second 
day Austin was not feeling well, and undertook to pre- 
pare some coffee. His companion warned him that if 
there were Indians near they would be attracted by the 
smoke from his fire. He thought, however, that by 
finding a sheltered place and making only a little 
smoke, there would be no danger of being discovered. 
They were on a large prairie, and could see many miles 
around. No living creature was in view but themselves. 
Christie, his companion, went to seek their horses, 
which had been hobbled the night before and turned 
loose to feed. Austin himself retired to a little ravine 
to enjoy the coffee. He was just raising the cup to his 
lips when he heard a sound like the trampling of many 
horses. He thought it might be a herd of buffaloes or 



38 TEXAS HISTORY STOKIES 

wild mustangs; but, on raising his head, he saw in the 
distance about fifty mounted Comanche warriors dash- 
ing towards him at full speed. He was quickly sur- 
rounded, and the plunder of his camp commenced. 
Every article was greedily seized upon. Austin threw 
his saddlebags, which held his papers, clothes and 
money for the journey, on the ground and stood upon 
them with his rifle in his hand to protect them. But 
the odds against him were too great. He was roughly 
thrust aside by half a dozen warriors and the saddle- 
bags with their precious contents were carried off. The 
chief seized his rifle, but Austin held on to it with a 
firm grip, while in the few Spanish and Indian words 
that he knew, declared himself to be an American. 
Then he asked the chief if his nation was at war with 
the Americans. 

"No," was the reply. 

"Do you like the Americans?" 

"Yes, they are our friends." 

"Where do you get your spear heads, your rifles, your 
blankets, your knives?" 

"From our friends, the Americans." 

"Well, do you think, if you were passing through 
their nation, as I am passing through yours, they would 
rob you as you have me?" 




(39) 



AUSTIN IN HUNTING COSTUME 



40 - TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

"No; they would feed me and protect me, and the 
Comanche will do the same by his white brother." 
Upon which he commanded his people to restore all the 
things taken.* 

The remainder of the way the travelers went on foot 
disguised as beggars in ragged clothes, to escape the 
notice of robbers, who in large numbers infested the 
roads and mountain passes. At night they slept on the 
ground in the open air and their food was of the c^oarest 
kind. 

After thirty-six days' travel they reached the City of 
Mexico. Here everything was in disorder. There had 
been another change in government, and no one seemed 
to know who was the rightful ruler. It was more than 
a year before Austin could get a hearing. This time he 
spent in learning the Spanish language and making 
friends among the people. 

"With patience, everything comes in due season," 
says the old proverb. Success at length came to Aus- 
tin. His grant was renewed and he was given full 
power to make all laws needful for the colonists. He 
received even more than he asked for; and with the 
good news he returned to the little colony on the 
Brazos. 



* Letters from Texas, by Mrs. Mary Austin Hoi ley. 



STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 41 

Austin foiiud the settlement almost broken up. Dis- 
couraged by his long absence, many of the people had 
moved away. Some returned to the United States and 
some found homes in other parts of the province. Of 
those who remained several had been killed by the 
Carancahua Indians, who had become very trouble- 
some. These Indians are described as being very fierce 
and warlike. They were six feet tall and strongly built. 
Each warrior carried a bow as long as himself, and so 
strong that a w^hite man could hardly string one. 

There was great rejoicing among the colonists over 
Austin's return and the good news he brought. They 
now felt safe and secure in their homes. They wrote 
letters to their friends in the United States telling of 
the delightful climate, the cheapness of the land, and 
the wonderfiil fertility of the soil; and soon a stream of 
immigrants came pouring into the colony. Towns 
sprang up as if by magic — Brazoria, Gonzales, Victoria, 
Columbia; San Felipe de Austin on the Brazos, which 
was named after Austin, was made the capital of the 
colony. 

For ten years Austin watched over and carefully 
tended the little colony. He had no family of his own, 
and he devoted himself entirely to his people. Their 
ka-ran'ka-wha gon-za'lez san fa-le'pa da aus'tin 



42 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

good was ever uppermost in his mind; and they, in turn, 
loved and honored him as a father. "He was a welcome 
visitor at every house, and, when ^the ColoneP called, 
the visit was spoken of for a long time in the family 
and neighborhood. Every child of every colonist was 
known to him, was eager to welcome him and to be per- 
mitted to play upon his knee." 

Contented and happy, busy with ploughing and sow- 
ing and reaping, the people were all unconscious of a 
storm that was gathering in the west and darkening 
over their homes. There arose a new ruler over Mexico, 
who was unfriendly to the Americans and began to ill- 
treat them in many w^ays. They were made to pay very 
high taxes. Their friends and relatives in the United 
States were no longer permitted to settle in the colony. 
Their arms were taken from them, and they w^ere thus 
left at the mercy of Indians and other bad characters 
that infested the country. Large bodies of soldiers, 
who behaved in a very insulting manner, were quar- 
tered among them. Many of the colonists for no cause 
were arrested and thrown into prison. 

These acts of the Mexican government created great 
excitement in Texas, and meetings were everywhere 
held to protest against the injustice. A meeting was 
held at San Felipe in April, 1833, at which it was de- 



STEPHEN F. AUSTIN ^ 43 

cided to send a petition to the governinent asking for 
the repeal of the unjust laws. Austin and two others 
were chosen to carry the petition to Mexico. 

Austin had not forgotten his other journey to Mexico, 
nor its trials. It would be more dangerous to go now, 
as all Mexico was stirred up against Americans. But 
the voice of his people called him to go, and that voice 
he could not resist. 

General Santa Anna, who was then president of 
Mexico, pretended to be a great friend to Texas; but 
when Austin arrived at the City of ^lexico he would 
not see him. He was busy plotting to make himself 
emperor of Mexico, and had no time to listen to such a 
small matter as a letter from the Texans. Austin tried 
again and again to see him, but failed each time. 

Sick at heart over his failure he started for home. 
When about half way to San. Antonio, he was arrested 
and taken back to the City of Mexico, where he was 
thrown into a dark dungeon and not allowed to speak 
or correspond with any one. He was kept in this dun- 
geon four months. During this time he was denied 
light, books, ink, pen and paper. He was then removed 
to another prison, where he was given more liberty. 
Here he was visited by Father Muldoon, a good priest 
who had once ministered to his colonists. Muldoon 



44 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

furnished biiii with a uiemorandum book and a pencil, 
and with these he whiled away many lonely hours. 
Here are some things he wrote: 

"What a horrible punishment is solitary confinement, 
shut up in a dungeon with scarcely light enough to dis- 
tinguish anything." 

"My poor sister; how much she is now suffering on 
my account! How happy I could have been on a farm 
near her, far from all cares and difficulties that now 
surround me! But I thought it was my duty to obey 
the call of the people to go to Mexico as their agent." 

"Muldoon failed in his promise to send me books. I 
prefer bread and water iciiJi books, to the best of eating 
icithout them. In a dungeon the mind and thoughts re- 
quire nourishment more than the body." 

"Time drags on heavily!" 

In the darkness of his prison his thoughts were con- 
tinually of his beloved Texas and how he might do 
something for her should he ever be set free. But per- 
haps he should die in prison. Who then would help 
her? These thoughts, he said, almost crazed him. 

Finally, after an absence of two years and four 
months, Austin once more set foot on the soil of Texas, 
his health almost ruined by his prison life and anxiety. 
Great was the joy of his people when they saw him 



STEPHEN V. AUSTIN 45 

again. "The old pioneers who had come with him into 
the country, and been with him in days gone by, and 
who had witnessed and partal^en of his toils and priva- 
tions, gathered round and received him as one risen 
from the dead." All turned to him for advice and guid- 
ance. 

Austin had been at home scarcely a month when war 
broke out between ^lexico and Texas. Mexican sol- 
diers were sent to take away the arms of the Texans. 
The Texans would not give them up; they needed them 
to protect their homes from the Indians. They would 
die, they said, before they would give up their arms. 

The first fight took place at Gonzales, October 2, 1835. 
The Texans had a small cannon here which the ]Mexi- 
cans were told to take. "Take it if you can," said the 
Texans, and fired it into the enemy's ranks. They used 
the little gun so well that the ^lexicans were soon 
whipped. Four of them were killed and many wounded. 
The Texans lost not a man. 

The news of this battle flew over the country as fast 
as fleet steeds could carry it. "Our fellow-citizens at 
Gonzales have been attacked I The war has com- 
menced!" was thundered at every door in Texas. At 
this not unexpected summons men snatched up their 
guns, spoke a few hasty words of parting to their loved 



46 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

ones, aDd rushed away to obey their country's call. 
Soon three hundred men were assembled near Gon- 
zales — the country's bravest and best, and each one 
carried in his breast the stern determination to drive 
"every Mexican soldier beyond the Rio Grande or 
within the plains with our bones." How it thrills the 
heart to call over their names! Edward Burleson, Ben- 
jamin R. Milam, J. W. Fannin, James Bowie, Henry 
Karnes, William B. Travis, Francis W. Johnson, Deaf 
Smith, Alexander Somervell, William H. Jack, John 
W. Smith, Wm. T. Austin. 

With so many leaders who should be the leader? Who 
but Stephen F. Austin? The choice was left to the sol- 
diers, who unanimously elected him commander-in- 
chief of the forces assembled at Gonzales. 

General Austin took command of the army, and at 
once moved against San Antonio, the stronghold of the 
enemy. The battle of Concepcion took place October 
28, 1835, and the Grass fight on the 2r>th of November, 
in both of which the Texans were victorious. 

The people of Texas were poor. They had no money, 

and the soldiers needed food and clothes. They must 

get help somewhere. It was decided to send some one 

to the United States to ask for aid. Austin was chosen 

kon-sep'se-on 



STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 47 

to go. WheD he was told of his appointment he said: 
*'I go on this mission from a sense of duty. It is a bad 
example for anyone to refuse the call of the people 
when the country is in danger. I have been called to 
go, and I obey the call." Two days after the Grass fight 
he resigned from the army and General Edward Burle- 
son was elected in his stead. 

The people of the United States received Austin with 
open arms. He was listened to with the deepest in- 
terest, and his tales of Mexican cruelty and oppression 
kindled a flame of sympathy everywhere. 

At New York, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, Mo- 
bile, New Orleans and other places men and money 
were raised and hurried forward to the aid of the struc:- 
gling colonists. "Austin is doing wonders among us for 
his country," says a writer of that day; "he is a Frank- 
lin in patience and prudence." 

After much fighting the Mexicans were beaten and 
Texas became free. Peace once more settled down 
upon the country. The soldiers laid aside their arms 
and went back to their homes. Gardens were planted 
and fields ploughed, and the whole country soon blos- 
somed like a rose. 

Austin was happy; his people were free. They now 
had their own president and made their own laws. 



48 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

General Sam Houston was the first president. Colum- 
bia on the Brazos was the capital city. 

President Houston needed some assistants in the 
government, and he chose Austin to be one of them. 
There was much to be done, but work for Texas was 
ever a pleasure to Austin. Day and night he devoted 
himself to his duties, working in a room that was much 
exposed and without fire, though the weather was cold. 
His health, never strong since his imprisonment in 
Mexico, could not stand the strain. He took a severe 
cold, which was succeeded by an attack of pneumonia, 
of which he died December 27, 1836, at the age of forty 
years. His last words were: "The independence of 
Texas is recognized! Don't you see it in the papers? 
Dr. Archer told me sol" He was buried at Peach Point 
on the Brazos, not far from Columbia, where a simple 
marble slab marks the last resting place of — 

The Father of Texas. 

One who knew him well says: "His long suffering 
for the weal of others; his patient endurance under per- 
secutions; his benevolent forgiveness of injuries, and 
his final sacrifice of health, happiness and life in the 
service of his country — all conspire to place him with- 
out a rival among the first of patriots and the best of 
men." 



SAM HOUSTON 



Texas History Stories 



SAM hoisto:n 



Sam Houston was born near Lexington, Rockbridge 
county, Virginia, on the 2nd of March, 1793. 

His father, Major Samuel Houston, was a soldier of 
the Revolution. He served throughout that struggle 
in General Daniel Morgan's famous baud of riflemen, 
and won much credit for his daring and courage. 
Major Houston was a tall, powerful man, brave as a 
lion, and never more at home than when fighting the 
enemies of his country, the red-skinned savages or the 
red-coated British. 

Sam's mother was Elizabeth Paxton, a good and 
noble woman. She was known the country round for 
her kindness and helpfulness; and her name was 
always spoken with gratitude by the poor and suffer- 
ing. 

The Houstons lived on a small farm seven miles from 
the town of Lexington. The family consisted of nine 
children, five boys besides Sam, and three girls. As 

(5) 



h TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

sooD as the cbildreD were old eDough to Avork, the 
boYS were sent to the fields to assist their father in 
ploughing, hoeing and harvesting while the girls 
stayed at home to help their mother with her household 
duties. Wealth was not theirs but they were plenti- 
fully supplied with the comforts of their time. 

When Sam was eight years old he started to school. 
There were few good schools in Virginia in those days 
and no free schools such as there are to-day. Houston 
attended an "old field school" in an old building, lo- 
cated on the present site of Washington and Lee Uni- 
versity. He could go to school only in the late fall and 
winter; the rest of the time he was kept hard at work. 
He learned to read and write and to do '"sums" in 
arithmetic. When he was thirteen years old he had 
gone to school but six months in all. At this time his 
father died. 

After the death of her husband, Mrs. Houston sold 
the old home in Virginia, and with her young family 
moved across the Alleghany Mountains into Tennessee. 
The journey was a long and dangerous one. High 
mountains, trackless forests and swollen streams ob- 
structed the way. Ferocious wild animals lurked in 
the hollows of the hills and crouched among the 
branches of the trees, ready to spring upon the unwary 
traveler. In the shadow of every rock prowled a mur- 



SAM HOUSTON 7 

derous savage with tomahawk poised and ready to fall, 
and scalping knife keen for the warrior's trophy, the 
scalp lock of his enemies. 

But nothing daunted, this brave woman, with her few 
household goods and smaller children on pack horses, 
set out on foot for what was then considered the Land 
of Promise. After many days the little party halted in 
what is now Blount county, eight miles from the Ten- 
nessee River, which was the boundary betw^een the 
white men and the Cherokee Indians. Here a log cabin 
was built, a farm cleared, and life begun over again. 

Sam was now set to work with his brothers breaking 
up the soil and planting the crops that were to furnish 
subsistence for his mother and sisters. But hard work 
had no charms for him. He liked hunting and fishing 
better. He soon became acquainted with the Indians 
living near his home, and spent much of his time in the 
woods with them. This conduct was very displeasing 
to his elder brothers, who complained that he was not 
bearing his share of the family burdens. After much 
argument and persuasion he was put to work in a coun- 
try store. 

Sam had no greater liking for this kind of life than 
he had for farming; so one day he suddenlj^ disappeared. 
Diligent search w^as made for him for many weeks, 
and he was found at last with a band of Cherokee In- 



8 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

dians who lived across the Tennessee River. His 
brothers visited him and tried to persuade him to re- 
turn home; but he replied that he preferred measuring 
deer tracks to measuring tape, and thej might leave 
him in the woods. 

Only when his clothes w^ere worn out, and he was in 
need of more, did he return home. His mother received 
him kindly and fitted him out in the best she could 
afford. His brothers, too, for a while treated him with 
due respect, and tried to prevail upon him to give up 
his wild notions. But he could not forget his free life 
in the woods. He longed to sport with the happy In- 
dian boys; he longed to chase the deer; he longed for 
the fresh air of the forests; and he was soon back among 
the Indians. 

Sam was very fond of reading, and he took with him 
to the w^oods his favorite book, Homer's Iliad. This he 
read by the light of the Indians' camp-fires at night, 
and in the daytime, when the chase was ended, he 
would lay himself down under the shade of a great tree 
and read for hours and hours. 

He remained with the Indians till his eighteenth 
year. On his visits home he had bought ammunition 
and many little trinkets for his Indian friends, and for 
these things he now found himself in debt. He could 
think of only one way of paying off this debt: he would 



SAM HOUSTON 9 

give up his dusky companions and teach the children 
of the palefaces. As may be supposed, it was no easy 
matter for him to get a school. He had few pupils at 
first, and for a time it looked as though his venture 
Avould prove a failure. But he was not one of the kind 
that gives up. He kept right on, and soon had pupils 
to turn away. For pay he received corn, cotton cloth, 
and a little money. 

Having made enough money to pay off his debts, he 
shut up his school and soon after became a soldier in 
the United States army. Because he enlisted as a 
common soldier, his friends said that he had ruined 
himself and disgraced his family, and they cut his ac- 
quaintance at once. Then it was that he made his first 
speech: "And what have your craven souls to say 
about the ranks? Go to, with your stuff; I would much 
sooner honor the ranks than disgrace an appointment. 
You don't know me now, but you shall hear of me." 

His mother encouraged him, telling him that by hon- 
orable effort he might win success and promotion. 
Standing in the door of her cottage, she handed him 
his musket, saying: "Here, my son, take this musket 
and never disgrace it; for remember, I had rather all 
my sons should fill one honorable grave than that one 
of them should turn his back to save his life. Go, and 
remember, too, that while the door of my cottage is 



10 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

ever open to brave men, it is always shut against cow- 
ards.'^ It was not long before he became a sergeant; 
then the best drill officer in the regiment. 

The powerful tribe of Creek Indians of Alabama, 
incited by the great chief Tecumseh and his brother, 
the Prophet, had fallen suddenly upon the white settle- 
ments and committed a frightful massacre at Fort Mims 
(August 10, 1813). General Andrew Jackson was sent 
with an army to punish the Indians and restore order. 
Houston's regiment joined this army and marched into 
the enemy's country. 

In the great battle of Tohopeka, or "the horseshoe," 
General Jackson met and defeated the Creeks and 
broke their power forever. It was a bloody hand-to- 
hand, muzzle-to-muzzle fight that lasted all day. The 
Indians had been told by the Prophet that the Great 
Spirit w^ould fight on their side and sw^eep away their 
enemies in a storm of w^rath; and so they fought to the 
death, ever looking for the appearance of their cham- 
pion. Not a warrior asked for or received quarter. 

While leading a charge on the Indians' breastworks, 
Houston was struck by a barbed arrow, Tvhich sank 
deep into his thigh. He tried to pull it out and failed. 
He then called upon his lieutenant to pull it out; but 
after two trials he, too, failed, so deeply w^as the arrow 
embedded in the flesh. "Try again," said Houston, 



SA.M HOUSTON 11 

raising his sword, "and if jou fail again I will smite 
jou to the earth." This time the arrow came out, fol- 
lowed by a stream of blood, tearing the flesh and leav- 
ing an ugly wound, that never got entirely well. 

While his w^ound was being dressed, General Jack- 
son, who had been w^atching the fight, rode up and 
ordered him to the rear. Houston made light of his 
wound and begged to be allow^ed to re-enter the fight, 
but was refused. He had said to the people when leav- 
ing home: "You shall hear of me." This w^as the place 
and the hour to make that promise good. He deter- 
mined to die in this battle or win the name of a hero; 
so when Jackson moved off he rejoined his men and 
was soon in the thickest of the fight again. 

When the day was almost done, and the battle was 
thought to be over, the Indians who survived the 
slaughter took refuge in a deep ravine, from which 
they poured a galling fire upon the whites. The only 
way to dislodge them was by a charge upon the narrow 
entrance of the ravine. This was a desperate under- 
taking, and would probably cost the lives of the men 
w^ho made it. General Jackson called for volunteers to 
storm the ravine. W^ounded as he was, "Houston 
dashed forward, calling upon his men to follow him, 
but w^ithout looking back to see if they did so. When 
w^ithin a few yards of the entrance he received two bul- 




(12) "IF YOU FAIL I WILL SMITE YOU TO THE EARTH" 



SAM HOUSTON 13 

lets in his shoulder and his upper right arm was shat- 
tered. His muslvet fell from his hand, and he was help- 
less. No one had supported his charge, and he drew 
back out of range of the fire.'' 

Houston was thought to be dying when he was borne 
from the field, and little attention was given to his 
wounds. He lay on the damp ground all night, racked 
with pain and expecting every moment to be his last. 
The next morning, being still alive, he was placed on a 
litter, and, with the other wounded, was taken to Fort 
Williams, some sixty or seventy miles away. For quite 
a while he remained here, neglected and exposed, and 
suspended between life and death. Nearly two months 
after the battle of Tohopeka, he was carried back to 
his mother's cabin. He was worn to a shadow, and so 
changed that his mother said she w^ould not have known 
him to be her son except for his eyes. 

After the war was over, Houston was promoted to the 
position of first lieutenant and ordered to New Orleans. 
With only two companions he made the journey down 
the Cumberland and the Mississippi rivers in a small 
skiff. One day as their skiff was turning a bend in the 
river they saw a strange sight — a vessel coming up 
stream without any sails and sending up a dense 
column of smoke. They thought it must be on fire; but 



14 TEXAS HISTORY STOrtlES 

on coming closer they saw it was a steamboat — the 
first that had ever gone up the Mississippi River. 

After five years' service in the army, Houston re- 
signed his commission in May, 1818. His record as a 
soldier was one of which he might well be proud. He 
had earned the respect and commendation of those in 
authority over him, and was noted throughout the 
army for his devotion to duty. His bravery at Toho- 
peka attracted the notice of General Jackson, who be- 
came his lifelong friend. General Jackson, writing to 
another officer, said of him: "In him I have full confi- 
dence, and in him you will have a friend without de- 
sign or deceit." Colonel Thomas Benton, the colonel of 
his regiment, said in a great speech: "He is frank, 
generous, brave, ready to perform every duty, and al- 
ways prompt to answer the call of honor, patriotism, 
or friendship." This was high praise for a young man 
of twenty-six years. 

Houston now returned to Tennessee, and made his 
home in the city of Nashville. Here he began the study 
of law, and in six months was admitted to practice in 
the courts of the State. He practiced law as he had 
practiced war — with his whole heart. He made him- 
self popular with all classes of people, and rose rapidly 
to distinction. 

When only thirty years of age he was elected to Con 



SAM HOUSTON 15 

gress. At the end of his term the people were so pleased 
with his course that he was returned a second time 
almost without a vote being cast against him. But he 
was to rise higher jet. His course in Congress won for 
him the respect and confidence of the whole people of 
Tennessee. Save Andrew Jackson, no man in the State 
was more loved and honored than Sam Houston. In 
1827 he was elected Governor of the State, and it was 
whispered about that he might yet be President of the 
United States. 

Houston's first term as governor was just closing, 
and the people were preparing with great enthusiasm 
to give him a second term w^hen a strange event oc- 
curred — the Governor suddenly resigned 'is office, left 
the State in disguise, and went back to the friends of 
his boyhood days, the Cherokee Indians, who w^ere then 
living in the territory of Arkansas. 

Years before he had been adopted as a son by the 
Cherokee chief, Oolooteekah (or John Jolly, as he was 
called in English), and given the name of Coloneh, 
which meant "the Rover." When the old chief was 
told that his son was coming to see him once more, he 
went to meet him, taking his whole family with him. 
He threw his arms around Houston and embraced him 
with great affection. "My son," he said, "eleven win- 
ters have passed since we met. My heart has wandered 



16 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

often where yon were; and I heard you were a great 
chief among your people. Since w^e parted I have heard 
that a dark cloud had fallen on the white path you were 
walking, and when it fell in your way you turned your 
thoughts to my wigwam. J am glad of it; it w^as done 
by the Great Spirit. We are in trouble, and the Great 
Spirit has sent you to us to tell us what to do and take 
trouble away from us. I know you will be our friend, 
for our hearts are near to you. My wigwam is yours, 
my home is yours, my people are yours; rest with us." 

Houston was glad to be back again with his old 
friend; and was afterwards heard to say that when he 
laid himself dow^n to sleep that night he felt like a lost 
child returned at last to his father's house. 

Houston was always the friend of the Indians. He 
had studied them in their wigwams, around the coun- 
cil fire, and in the forests, and he knew them better 
than anyone else did. He said that in all the years he 
had known them he had never been deceived by one of 
them. 

The Indians were in great trouble, as the old chief 
had said. The white man had taken their lands, laid 
waste their wigwams, and driven them from the graves 
of their fathers. He had robbed them of their forests 
and game and given them " fire-water " to drink, which 



SAM eODSTON 17 

had carried off thousands of their tribe, and made their 
sternest chieftains senseless sots. 

Houston saw these wrongs and the suffering they 
caused, and determined to have them righted. He went 
to Washington and laid the matter before the Presi- 
dent, General Jackson. The President received him 
kindly and listened attentively to his story. But there 
were members of Congress and others who abused him, 
and said all manner of evil things against him falsely, 
and even threatened to take his life. Houston bore all 
in silence, knowing w^ell that his cause was a just one 
and that in the end right would triumph. And so it did. 
The Indians were paid for their lands; the bad men 
who had cheated them were removed from office; the 
sale of " fire-water " among them was stopped. 

In 1832 Houston left his wigwam on the Arkansas 
and went to Texas — sent there by President Jackson 
on a mission to the Comanche Indians. He was accom- 
panied part of the way by two friends on horseback. 
Houston was mounted on a little Indian pony, very 
much too small for a man of his size. His legs dangled 
almost to the ground, and his great saddle completely 
covered the body of the pony. Rider and horse cut a 
sorry figure. Houston was much concerned about his 
appearance, which was the constant subject of his con- 
versation. "This bob tailed pony is a disgrace," he 
2 



18 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

said; " I shall be the laughiog stock of all Mexico;" and 
to his friend who had a fine, large horse, "You must 
trade with me." The friend consented and the ex- 
change was made; whereupon Houston regained his 
dignity and good humor. 

Houston stopped at Nacogdoches for a w^hile and then 
went on to San Antonio, where his mission to the In- 
dians was performed. He had been strongly urged by 
the people of Nacogdoches to take up his residence 
among them, and he promised to do so. He now 
returned to that place, going by way of San Felipe, 
where he met Stephen F. Austin. 

Houston found the whole country in an uproar. 
Texas, it must be remembered, was at this time a 
province of Mexico, though most of the people were 
emigrants from the United States. At first these 
emigrants had been warmly welcomed and given many 
privileges; but, when they began to come in such great 
numbers, Mexico grew jealous of them and passed cer- 
tain laws that bore very heavily upon them. 

They w-ere no longer allow^ed to make their own laws. 
They w^ere given no free schools. They were not 
allowed to worship God as they pleased. The doors of 
Mexico w^ere shut against people from the United 
States, and relatives and friends could no longer visit 
them nor come and make thei r homes with them. They 



SAM HOUSTON 19 

were not permitted to keep guns to protect themselves 
from the Indians. For daring to disregard these laws 
.some of their best men were thrown into prison. These 
things finally brought on revolution. 

Matters went from bad to worse, till 1835, when war 
broke out between Mexico and Texas. Houston's fame 
as a soldier had gone before him, and he was elected 
commander-in-chief of the armies of Texas. He im- 
mediately set out for San Antonio, where the Mexican 
president, General Santa Anna, with an army of six 
thousand men, was besieging Colonel Travis and his 
one hundred and eighty Texans in the old church of the 
Alamo. 

Colonel Travis had w^ritten that as long as the x\lamo 
should hold out, signal guns would be fired every morn- 
ing at sunrise. For many days these guns had been 
heard at a distance of one hundred miles across the 
prairie. Every morning at break of day, the tall figure 
of Houston might have been seen standing on the 
prairie, hat in hand, listening for this message of life 
and hope. One morning he listened in vain. The mes- 
sage came not. The calm morning air was undisturbed 
by a single murmur. The Alamo had fallen. 

Houston went on to Gonzales, w here he found three 
hundred men gathered together, but w^ithout disci- 
pline, arms or supplies. He could not resist Santa 



20 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

Anna with such a force as this, so he fell back to the 
Colorado River to await reinforcements. Colonel 
Fannin, who was at Goliad, fifty miles away, with five 
hundred men, had been ordered to blow up the fort at 
that place, sink his cannon in the river and fall back 
to join Houston's army. Fannin delayed obedience 
to these orders until the Mexicans were almost in sight 
of the town. Then it was too late'. He had gone 
scarcely ten miles across the prairie when he was sur- 
rounded by a force of Mexicans many times greater 
than his own, and compelled to surrender. A few 
days afterwards the prisoners to the number of three 
hundred were taken out on the prairie and shot. 

Santa Anna, after his successes at the Alamo and 
Goliad, believed the war to be over. He divided his 
army into three columns to complete the work of occu- 
pying the country, and gave orders to his commanders 
to drive all Americans beyond the Sabine and to shoot 
all prisoners. He himself prepared to return to Mexico; 
but, hearing that a force of twelve hundred men had 
gathered to dispute the passage of the Colorado, he 
changed his mind and himself took command of the 
division that was pursuing Houston. 

Houston was planning to give battle when, on the 
25th of March, a messenger arrived with news of the 
surrender and massacre of Fannin's command. Hous- 



SAM HOUSTON 21 

ton had the messenger arrested and pretended to have 
him shot as a bringer of false tidings; but it was of 
little use. The stor^^ leaked out and the Texan army 
melted away like hoar frost before the morning sun. 
Houston is said to have had fourteen hundred men at 
this time, and quite half of them deserted. 

To fight now Houston knew was out of the question; 
for, even should a victory be won, it would only serve to 
call down upon himself the entire three divisions of 
the Mexican army, and a defeat would ruin the cause of 
Texas beyond hope. By falling back the Mexican forces 
would be kept separated; Santa Anna would be led 
farther and farther from his base of supplies; and 
Houston could choose his own time and place to fight. 

With this plan in his mind Houston began a retreat 
which he kept up steadily for a month. The soldiers 
were very much displeased at this movement. They 
wanted to fight. They did not know of Houston's plan, 
and could not understand why they were " running 
away"; and threats were freely made to depose Hous- 
ton from the command. The government, too, looked 
on in amazement and sent angry letters to Houston 
ordering him to fight. These were dark days for the 
great commander, the darkest of his life, he said. " Be 
assured," he wrote to his friend, General Rusk, "the 



22 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

fame of Andrew Jackson could never compensate me 
for my anxiety and mental pain." 

But threats and angry letters had no effect on Hous- 
ton. He meant to do his duty as he saw it. The com- 
mand might be taken away from him, but there was 
no power on earth that could make him risk a fight 
against his judgment. On his little army depended 
the fate of Texas, and he did not intend to give battle 
till he was sure that he could win. 

On the 18th of April the Texan army camped on the 
banks of Buffalo Bayou, near the town of Harrisburg. 
Here the scouts, Deaf Smith and Henry Karnes, 
brought in a prisoner w ith a buckskin bag full of letters 
for Santa Anna. It was dusk and Houston read the 
letters by torchlight. From them he learned for the 
first time that Santa Anna had not gone back to Mexico, 
but was with the army that w^as pursuing the Texans, 
and was then not far away dow^n the bayou. Santa 
Anna had done just what Houston wanted him to do. 
He had taken Houston's bait; and here he was, away 
over in East Texas, with the avenging Texans before 
him and his forces so scattered that it was impossible 
for one division to help the others. 

In the White House at Washington, old Andrew 
Jackson sat with a map of Texas before him, and with 
his fino-er traced out the line of Houston's retreat. The 



SAM HOUSTON 23 

finger paused at San Jacinto. " Here is the place," 
said the okl hero. " If Sam Houston's worth one 
baubee, he'll make a stand here and give 'em a fight." 

The pupil was worthy of his master. " We need not 
talk," said Houston to General Rusk after finishing the 
letters. " You think we ought to fight, and I think so, 
too." He called the soldiers together at once and told 
them of his decision. " The army will cross the bayou, 
and we will meet the enemy. Some of us may be killed 
and must be killed. But, soldiers, remember the Alamo, 
the Alamo, the Alamo!" 

Buffalo Bayou was brimming full, and the crossing 
had to be made on rafts built of timber and rails. It was 
evening w^hen the last man was over. A swift march 
that lasted all night was then begun down the bayou. 
The morning of the 20th found the Texans camped in 
a skirt of timber near the junction of the bayou and 
San Jacinto River, the very place where Jackson's 
finger had paused — and the enemy was before them. 

At three o'clock, on the afternoon of the next day, 
April 21, 1836, the long desired battle was begun. The 
Texans rushed to the fight shouting their battle cry, 
"Remember the Alamo!" "Remember Goliad!" The 
Mexicans w^ere taken completely by surprise. Santa 
Anna was in his tent enjoying his afternoon nap. Many 
of the officers and men were stretched out in a doze. 



24 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

Some of the meo were cooking and others were in the 
timber cutting boughs for shelter. The cavalrymen 
were riding bareback to and from water. 

When the Texan line was seen approaching, there 
was the greatest alarm and confusion. The officers, 
suddenly awakened, ran about giving all kinds of 
orders. Some shouted to the men to fire; others cried 
to lie down and keep out of the way of the shots. The 
men, dazed by these different orders and terrified by 
the Texan cry, had barely time to seize their muskets 
and fire one feeble volley when the line of maddened 
Texans poured over them. In fifteen minutes the battle 
was over. The Mexicans were flying helter-skelter in 
all directions over the prairie, closely followed by the 
Texans, who shot them down without mercy. 

The grand army of Santa Anna was entirely de- 
stroyed. The general himself was taken prisoner. He 
was found the day after the battle, hiding in the tall 
grass of the prairie, disguised as a common soldier. 
Pretending that he could not walk, he was placed on a 
horse behind one of the Texans and carried before 
General Houston. 

Houston's horse had been shot under him, and he 
himself was badly wounded in the ankle. The wound 
was very painful and had kept him awake all night. 
When Santa Anna was brought to him, he was lying 



SAM HOUSTON 25 

on a pallet under an old oak tree, and had fallen into 
a doze. He was roused by the cries of the Mexican 
prisoners, "El presidente!" "El presidente!'' Raising 
himself on his elbow, he gazed into the face of the 
Mexican President. Santa Anna stepped forward and 
with an impressive bow told who he was, and begged 
that his life might be spared. Houston was a brave 
man, and the brave never exult over the fallen. He 
promised Santa Anna that when Mexico should have 
withdrawn all her troops across the Rio Grande, and 
agreed to the independence of Texas, he should be 
released; though he deserved nothing less than death 
for his cruelty at the Alamo and Goliad. 

Houston's wound proving troublesome, he left the 
command of the army to General Rusk and went to 
New Orleans for treatment. He was received there 
with every mark of honor and respect. At the boat- 
landing the crowd that had gathered to witness his 
arrival was so dense that it was with difficulty he could 
be gotten ashore. He was so weak he could not even 
raise his head without fainting. He was placed on a 
cot, in a dying condition it was thought, and taken to 
the home of a friend, Colonel William Christy, who 
had served with him in the Indian war when he was 
but a youth. He was attended by Dr. Kerr, who had 
been his physician years before when he was suffering 



26 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

from the wounds received at Tohopeka. He received 
the very best care that loving hands could give, but his 
recovery was slow and his suffering great. More than 
twenty pieces of bone were taken from his ankle. The 
news from Texas was disquieting and, as soon as he 
was able to move, he returned to his home at St. Augus- 
tine, taking passage on a steamer up Red River. 

By the battle of San Jacinto, Texas had freed herself 
from Mexico, and taken her place as one of the nations 
of the world. She must now have a government and 
laws of her own. It was thought that a government like 
that of the United States w^ould be best suited to the 
people, as most of them were from that country. When 
Houston got back from New Orleans, he found every- 
body talking about w^ho should go to Congress, and 
who should be president! His friends and neighbors at 
once named him for the latter office. Stephen F. Austin 
and Henry Smith were also named. When the election 
was over it was found that Houston had received more 
than three times as many votes as the other two 
together; so he became first president of the new^ 
Republic of Texas. 

" Texas was the youngest and feeblest of nations." 
She had no money and a very large debt. Mexico, 
though defeated, had not given up all hope of getting 
back her lost province, and was continually sending out 



SAM HOUSTON 27 

armed bands to raid the country. The Indians were 
ravaging the frontier. The Texan army was undisci- 
plined and mutinous, and ready at any time to throw 
itself upon the government. 

With so much to contend with, it seems a wonder 
that the little nation survived at all. And, but for 
Houston, it could not have done so. He carried the 
nation on his shoulders. He was first and last, and 
did everything. He found a w^ay to pay the public 
debt; made peace with Mexico; stopped the Indian 
raids; and, best of all, got the United States to recog- 
nize the independence of Texas. It was a growing and 
prosperous country that he left to his successor, 
General M. B. Lamar. 

It w^as the dearest wish of Houston's heart to see 
Texas annexed to the United States. Most of the 
people were from that country; their friends and 
relatives were still there; they looked upon it as their 
home. At the close of his term of office Houston spent 
some time traveling in the United States seeing the 
public men, and urging annexation. On this journey 
he met and was married to Miss Margaret Moffett 
Lea, of Alabama. 

The people soon grew tired of Lamar as president. 
He wanted to make a great name for himself, and 
everything that Houston had done he tried to undo. 



28 TEXAS HISTOKY STORIES 

He found the country prosperous; in the three years of 
his term he brought it to the verge of ruin. When the 
time came to select his successor, all eyes again turned 
to Houston. He was the one man to save the country, 
and he was elected president for the second time. 

The work of his first term was all to be done over. 
Debts, piled mountain high by Lamar in trying to have 
a fine government, w^ere paid. The Indians, whom 
Lamar had sought to exterminate, were again on the 
warpath. Houston " at once sent the wampum among 
the forest tribes, and soon after went himself in Indian 
dress to the distant woods and smoked the pipe of 
peace in the chieftains' dwellings. Among them he 
felt safe; he wrapped his blanket about him, and laid 
himself down to sleep by the fires of ferocious savages, 
near whom other white men did not dare to venture. 
' We have nothing to fear from the Indian,' he said, * if 
we only treat him with justice, and he believes us his 
friends.' " He cultivated friendly relations with 
Mexico, which Lamar had stirred up to fresh acts of 
hostility. 

But the question that concerned Houston most was 
the annexation of Texas to the United States. In this, 
he felt, lay her only safety. He thought and planned, 
and wrote, and did everything he could to bring it 
about. Just one year after the close of his term, Decem- 



SAM HOUSTON 29 

ber 22, 1845, his hopes were fulfilled. The State of 
Texas was added to the great American Union and the 
Republic of Texas was no more. 

Texas was safe in the arms of the Union. Henceforth 
those mighty arms would do battle for her and Houston 
could rest for a season. But this season was a short 
one. He was elected to the Senate of the United States 
and sent to Washington, where he was kept for thir- 
teen years. Here he was always punctually in his 
place, and listened closely to everything that was said. 
He made few speeches himself, but he carefully 
watched the interests of the country and was always 
ready to give it his best services. One who knew him 
says his principal occupation in the Senate was whit- 
tling pine sticks. He would sit and whittle by the hour, 
making toys for his own or other children, and all the 
time keep up a muttering at the long-winded speakers. 

Houston left the Senate, March 4, 1859, and returned 
to his home at Independence, Texas. He was growing 
old — he was sixty-five years of age. For more than 
forty years he had been a servant of the State; now he 
longed for the peace and quiet of home, and freedom 
from public care. But there was no rest for " Old Sam 
Jacinto ^' jet. Once more he must gird on his armor 
and mingle in the fray. 

He had been at home scarcely a year when he was 



30 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

elected governor of Texas. For many years a quarrel 
had been going on between the States of the North 
and the States of the South, principally over the ques- 
tion of slavery. The South, at last, feeling that she 
could not get her rights in the Union, determined to 
withdraw from it, or secede, and set up a government 
of her own. 

Governor Houston was opposed to secession and did 
everything he could against it. But the people of Texas 
felt that the cause of the South w^as just, and for once 
would not listen to his counsels. Sad to tell, they called 
him traitor and other hard names, and it was even 
suggested that he be shot to get him out of the way. 
His own boys sided against him. One day his son Sam 
came into the governor's oflflce wearing a secession 
rosette on his breast and the governor asked him: 

" What is that, Sam, on the lapel of your coat?" 

" A secession rosette, father,'' answered young Sam. 

" Why, Sammy, haven't you got it in the wrong 
place?" said the governor. 

" Where should I wear it, father, if not over my 
heart?" asked Sam. 

" I think, Sammy, it would be more appropriate for 
you to wear it pinned to the inside of your coat-tail! " 
answered the governor. 

On the 23d of February, 1861, it was decided by a 



SAM HOUSTON 



31 



vote of the people that Texas should secede. '^ My 
heart is broken," said Houston, as the cannon thun- 
dered forth the news, and "the words were true; he 
never was himself again.'' Houston could not believe 
that secession was right and, as governor, he would not 
sanction it. This displeased the people and they turned 
him out of office. President Lincoln offered him a 
major-generars commission and troops to force Texas 
to stay in the Union, but he refused both offers. He 
loved Texas and he loved the Union; but, when it came 
to choosing between the two, it was " My State, right or 
wrong." He fitted out his eldest son to enter the Con- 
federate service, and said that if he had more sons old 
enough they should go. In his last speech, made in the 
city of Houston soon after his retirement from the 
governor's office, he said, "All my thoughts and all my 
hopes are with my country. If one impulse rises above 
another, it is for the happiness of these people; the 
welfare and glory of Texas will be the uppermost 
thought while the spark of life lingers in this breast." 
General Houston's last days were sad and unhappy. 
The wound which he had received at Tohopeka, fifty 
years before while fighting for the United States, and 
which had never entirely closed, began to trouble him 
afresh. The wound in the ankle, received at San 
Jacinto, had finally disabled him, and he who had once 
been so erect and strong, now went about feebly upon a 



32 



TEXAS HISTORY STOEIES 



crutch and cane. Added to these troubles he saw his 
country going to ruin and he was powerless to aid her. 
He was Terv poor, and at times his family suffered for 
lack of the common necessaries of life. " He was sick 
of time and desired rest." 

General Houston died at his home in Huntsville^ 




SAM HOUSTON'S HOME, NEAR HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS 

Texas, July 26, 1863, aged seventy years. His last 
words were "Texas! Texas!" and " Margaret!" the 
name of his wife. A simple marble slab in the cemetery 
at Huntsyille marks his last resting place. On it one 
may read this inscription: General Sam Houston, bcrn 
March 2, 1793, died July 26, 1863. 



DAVID CROCKETT 




CopyriglU, by Brack, jiliotographcr 



DAVID CROCKETT 



DAVID CROCKETT 



35 



In the " Life of Sam Houston " you were told of the 
brave men who died in the Alamo, fighting for the free- 
dom of Texas. One of these men was David Crockett. 
David Crockett was born in Tennessee on the ITth 
of August, 1786. He had five brothers and three sis- 
ters. His father was very poor and the family lived 
in the backwoods. 

The house in which they lived was made of logs. 
The chinks between the logs were filled with clay. 
There were no windows in the house, and light and 
fresh air came in through the door or through the 
chinks in the wall. Small holes were made in the wall^ 
through which guns might be put to shoot at the 
Indians. 

The country was full of Indians at that time. They 
were very troublesome. They would hide themselves 
near the settler's cabin and shoot down anyone who 
came out of the door. Often they would attack the 
house, break down the door, and kill the entire family. 
Crockett's grandfather and grandmother were both 
killed by them. 

When David was seven or eight years old, his father 
gave up the farm and opened a mill for grinding corn 



36 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

ioto meal. The mill house was built on the banks of 
a small stream. One night there came a great rain 
storm. The water in the stream rose very high and 
washed away the mill house. It came up into the 
house in which Mr. Crockett lived and he had to move 
his family out to keep them from being drowned. lie 
then moved to another part of the country and opened a 
tavern. 

David, being next to the oldest son, was a great help 
to his father and mother. When travelers would stop 
at the tavern for the night, David would help them to 
unhitch and feed their teams. 

One night an old Dutchman by the name of Jacob 
Siler stopped at the tavern. He was taking to Virginia 
a large stock of cattle. He wanted some one to help 
him with his cattle. He liked David's bright face and 
business manner, and asked Mr. Crockett to hire him. 
David was now about twelve years old. He loved his 
father and mother dearly, and hated very much to 
leave home. But the family was very poor and he 
must help make the living. 

With a heavy heart he set out on the journey. It 
was four hundred miles to the place he was going and 
he had to travel on foot. He got very tired and often 
wished to be back at home with his dear father and 
mother. But he felt it his duty to go on. His Dutch 



DAVID CROCKETT 37 

master was pleased with him and at the end of the 
journey gave him five or six dollars as his wages. It 
was a small sum, but David was very proud of it. It 
was the first money he had ever earned. He wanted to 
go home and take the money to his father. But his 
master did not w^ant him to go and kept a strict watch 
over him. 

One day he and two other boys were playing by the 
roadside, some distance from the house, when three 
wagons came along. They belonged to an old man who 
was going to Tennessee, and who knew David's father. 
David begged the old man to take him home. The old 
man said he would stay that night at a tavern seven 
miles away, and if David could get there before day 
the next morning he would take him home. This was- 
Sunday evening. David went back to his master's 
house and found the family were out on a visit. He 
gathered his clothes and his money and put them all 
together under the head of his bed. He went to bed 
early that night, but he could not sleep. He kept 
thinking and thinking about his father and mother. 
And then, too, what if his master should find out that 
he was going home? 

About three hours before day he got up to make his 
start. The night was dark and cold. It w^as snowing 
fast, and the snow was then on the ground about eight 



38 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

incbes deep. When be got to tbe wagons, about au 
bour before tlaj, it was up to bis knees. 

Tbe men were already up and getting ready to start. 
Tbe old man treated bim witb great kindness. David 
warmed bimself by tbe fire and ate a bearty breakfasi, 
after wbicb tbe party set out on tbeir journey. 

How slowly tbe wbeels turned! To David tbey 
seemed almost to stop. It seemed to bim tbat be would 
noA'er get bome. He tbougbt be could go faster by 
w-alking, so telling bis old friend goodbye be set out 
on foot. He walked on until be was overtaken by a 
man leading a borse, wbo offered to let bim ride. He 
was very glad of tbis cbance, as be was very tired. Tbis 
kind man took bim w'itbin fifteen miles of bis fatber's 
bouse, wben tbey parted and David walked bome. 

Up to tbis time David bad never been to scbool a 
day. He could neitber read nor write. Near bis 
fatber's bouse was a little country scbool, kept by a 
man named Kitcben. To tbis scbool bis fatber now 
sent bim. He bad gone but four days and bad just 
begun to learn bis letters, wben a dispute witb a 
boy mucb larger and older tban bimself caused bim to 
quit scbool. 

He did not go to scbool again until be was fifteen 
years old. Tben be began to tbink tbat all bis troubles 
were caused by bis want of learning, and tbat be bad 



DAVID CROCKETT 39 

better enter school again. By working two days a week 
he got one of his neighbors to board him, and went to 
school the other four days of tlie week. He kept this 
up for six months. In this time he had learned to read 
a little, to write his own name, and to cipher some. 
This was all the schooling he ever had. 

David was very fond of shooting, and, as soon as he 
got money enough, he bought himself a good rifle. He 
carried it with him wherever he went. He often went 
to shooting matches, w^here thej' shot for beef. He was 
such a good shot that he often won the whole beef. 

When he grew to be a man he became a great hunter. 
The country where he lived was full of deer, bears and 
other wild animals. When his family wanted meat, 
he would go out into the woods and shoot a deer or a 
bear. 

Here is a story he tells of one of his bear hunts: " In 
the morning I left my son at the camp, and we started 
towards the canebrake. When we had gone about a 
mile, we started a very large bear, but we had to go 
very slowly, as the earth was full of cracks caused by 
earthquakes, and there was much danger of falling 
into them. We kept in hearing of the dogs, though, 
for about three miles, when we came to the canebrake. 

^' By this time several of the dogs had got tired and 
come back. We went ahead for some little time into 



40 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

the canebrake, when we met the bear coming straight 
to us, and not more than twenty yards off. I started 
my dogs after him, and I followed on to about the 
middle of the canebrake. Here I found the bear in an 
old stump of a tree about twenty feet high, with the 
dogs barking all around him. When I got close enough 
to shoot, I fired, and the bear fell. I ran up to h'm, but 
he was not dead. I loaded my gun as quickly as I 
could, shot him again and killed him. When we had 
skinned the bear, we cut off the fat, packed it on our 
horses and started back to camp. We had gone but a 
little way when I heard my dogs barking again. I 
jumped down from my horse and gave him to my 
friend. He went on to camp, and I followed the dogs 
with all my might. 

" Soon night came ov. The woods were rough and 
hilly and all covered over with cane. I had to move 
very slowly. Several times I fell over logs and into 
cracks made by the earthquakes. I was very much 
afraid I would break my gun. I went on about three 
miles till I came to a big creek, which I waded. The 
water was about knee-deep and very cold. It was now 
so very dark that I could hardly see my way. When I 
got to the dogs, I found they had treed a bear in a 
large forked tree. 

" I could see the dark hump in the tree, but net well 



DAVID CROCKETT 41 

enough to shoot. I hunted for some dry brush to make 
a light, but could find none. At last I thought 1 could 
shoot by guess and kill him. I pointed as near the 
hump as I could and fired. The bear did not fall, but 
climbed higher and got out on a limb, where I could see 
him better. I loaded again and fired, but he didn't 
move at all. I was loading for a third shot, w^hen, the 
first thing I knew, the bear was down among the dogs, 
and they w^ere fighting all around me. At last the 
bear got into one of the cracks made by the earth- 
quakes. I could not see a wink. I pushed my gun 
against him and fired. With that he jumped out of 
the crack, and he and the dogs had another hard fight 
around me. At last the dogs forced him back into the 
crack again. 

" I had laid down my gun in the dark, and I now 
began to hunt for it. I got hold of a pole, and I thought 
I would punch the bear awhile with that. When I 
punched him, the dogs would jump in on him, when he 
would bite them and make them jump out again. 
While the dogs kept his head toward them, I got down 
into the crack and killed him with a long knife I car- 
ried in my belt. 

" I suffered very much with cold that night. My 
clothes were wet and frozen. My fire was very bad, 
and I could not find anything that would burn well to 



42 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

make it any better. I thought I should freeze if I 
didn't warm myself in some way by exercise. I got up 
and shouted awhile with all my might. Then I would 
jump up and down and throw myself into all sorts of 
motions. But this would not do. My blood was getting 
cold and the chills were coming all over me. I was so 
tired, too, that I could hardly walk. But I thought 
I would do the best I could to save my life. I went to 
a tree about two feet through and not a limb on it for 
thirty feet, and I would climb up to the limbs, then 
lock my arms around it and slide down to the bottom 
again. I kept on doing this till daylight. In the morn- 
ing I hung my bear up, so as to be safe, and set out to 
hunt for my camp. I found it in a short while. My son 
and my friend were rejoiced to see me, as they had 
given me up for lost." 

Crockett was a great Indian fighter, as well as bear 
hunter. He was in many battles with the Indians and 
was a brave soldier. When he went to war he was 
called Colonel Crockett. 

Colonel Crockett was much liked by his neighbors 
wherever he lived. He was kind-hearted; he was full 
of fun; he was pleasant to every one he met; he was 
honest. In all things he tried to do what was right. 
His motto was, " Be sure you are right, then go ahea:d," 

The people wanted a man of this kind to help make 



DAVID CROCKETT 43 

the laws, and thej chose Colonel Crockett. They sent 
him first to the legislature of the State, and then to 
Congress. He stayed in Congress several years. When 
his time was out, he determined to go to Texas and 
help her against the Mexicans. Texas was fighting for 
freedom and needed soldiers very much. So bidding 
farewell to home and friends, he set out for that 
strange land. 

On the way he was joined by two companions. One 
day they were riding through the prairies when they 
heard a low rumbling noise like thunder. They stopped 
and listened. Nearer and louder grew the noise. They 
looked in the direction from which the sound came and 
saw a great cloud of dust rising over the prairie. They 
thought it must be a storm coming. The noise grew 
louder and louder. The cloud of dust became thicker 
and thicker. Thinking that it might be a band of In- 
dians coming, they rode into a grove of trees near by. 
They had just got under the trees when a great herd of 
buffaloes came dashing by as swift as the wind. If the 
colonel and his friend had not ridden under the trees 
they would have been trampled to death. 

Colonel Crockett had long wanted a chance to hunt 
buffaloes, and now here it was. He watched the herd 
for a few moments, then put spurs to his horse and 
fpllowed them, leaving his friends behind him. He 



44 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

rode on as fast as his horse could carry him. But he 
could not keep up with the buffaloes, which were soon 
lost to sight in the distance. 

He now stopped to let his horse breathe and to think 
how he should get back to his friends and the road he 
had left. He looked around hiin on every side, but 
nothing was to be seen but the broad prairie. Not even 
an animal was in sight. Not a sound was to be heard. 
He was lost on the prairie. 

Night came on and he began to look for a place of 
shelter. He found a large tree that had blown down 
and he thought he would sleep in its top. As he was 
climbing up among the branches, he heard a low growl. 
Looking up to see what sort of a bed-fellow he was 
to have, he saw, not more than five or six steps 
away, a great Mexican lion. With flashing eyes and 
grinning teeth he was just ready to spring upon the 
colonel. Crockett raised his rifle to his shoulder as 
quickly as he could and fired. The ball struck the lion 
on the forehead, but did not hurt him much. The next 
moment he sprang and lighted on the ground close by 
Crockett, who struck him over the head with the barrel 
of his rifie; but the lion didn't mind that at all. Crockett 
now threw down his gun and drew his large hunting 
knife. The lion came at him again and seized him by 
the shoulder. Crockett's foot tripped in a vine and he 



DAVID CROCKETT 45 

fell to the ground with the lion on top of him. Crockett 
thought his last hour had come. His arm and leg were 
badly torn. He felt himself getting very weak. 
Gathering all his strength for a last blow, he struck 
the lion with all his might in the neck. The lion let 
go his hold and in another moment rolled over on his 
side dead. 

Crockett now went back to the tree to make his bed. 
He threw some moss on the ground, and over it spread 
his horse blanket. On this bed he lay down and, being 
very tired, soon fell fast asleep. He awoke at daybreak 
next morning. He was sore and stiff from his fight 
with the lion. He went for his horse, but it had run 
away during the night. What should he do, away off 
in this wild country, afoot and alone? 

While he was thinking a band of Indians rode up 
and surrounded him. They were friendly to the white 
men. The chief gave Crockett another horse and 
promised to take him back to his friends. The camp 
was reached that evening, when Crockett bade fare- 
well to his kind friends, the Indians, and they rode 
away. 

Crockett's companions w^ere delighted to see him. 
The next day they reached the Alamo. 

The Alamo is an old church in the city of San 
Antonio. The Texans had taken the town from the 



46 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

Mexicans some time before and had turned the old 
chnrch into a fort. Colonel William B. Travis, with 
one hundred and eighty soldiers, held the fort for the 
Texans. Colonel Travis was glad to see Crockett and 
his companions and welcomed them to the fort. 

Not many days after Crockett's arrival news came 
that the Mexican general, Santa Anna, with a large 
army, was coming to take the fort. The Texans made 
ready to receive them. They stored their arms and 
provisions in the fort and raised the Texas flag. 

The Mexicans marched into the city with a blood-red 
flag flying. This red flag meant that all who were 
taken prisoners would be put to death. They sent a 
messenger to Colonel Travis, asking him to surrender. 
They told him that if he did not surrender every man 
would be put to death. Colonel Travis- answer was a 
cannon shot. 

Colonel Travis now sent word to General Houston 
that he was surrounded by the Mexicans and asked for 
help. In his letter he said, " I shall never surrender 
or retreat! Victory or death!" 

But no help came. The Mexicans drew nearer and 
nearer to the fort. On the 6th of March, 1836, before 
daybreak, they closed about the walls of the fort. They 
brought ladders with them and tried to climb over the 
walls. But the Texans poured upon them a terrible 



DAVID CKOCKETT 47 

hail of shot and shell and kept them back. A second 
time thej went up the ladders, but with no better suc- 
cess. A third time they swarmed up the ladders, 
driven by the swords of their officers. This time they 
went over the walls amongst the Texans. The Texans 
" fought like brave men — long and well." They sold 
their lives as dearly as possible. When daylight came 
only six of them were found alive. Among this num- 
ber was Colonel Crockett. He stood alone in a corner 
of the fort, the barrel of his shattered rifle in his right 
hand and his huge bowie knife in his left. There was 
a great gash across his forehead. Twenty or thirty of 
his foes lay dead at his feet. 

Crockett with the other five Texans were taken 
prisoners and carried before General Santa Anna, who 
ordered them to be put to death at once. 

When Crockett heard this order he sprang like a 
tiger at Santa Anna, but before he could reach him a 
dozen swords pierced his heart and he fell and died 
without a groan. 



THE ALAMO 



Texas History Stories 



THE ALAMO 



When La Salle landed at Matagorda Bay, the whole 
country was claimed by the Spaniards. No other white 
people were allowed to come into the country, nor even 
to enter the Gulf of Mexico on pain of death. 

When the Spaniards heard that La Salle had landed 
they sent a company of soldiers to find him and destroy 
his colony. But not a Frenchman was to be found at 
La Salle's little fort. Not many days after La Salle 
had left on his last sad journey, the fort was attacked 
by Indians and most of the people were put to death. 
Their bleaching bones were found by the Spaniards 
scattered over the prairie. Some few escaped to the 
wigwams of friendly Indians where they were found 
by the Spaniards and sent back to their homes in 
France. The fort was in ruins. A house with the 
figures " 1685 " over the door and the remains of the 
vessel w^recked in crossing the bar were all that was 
left. 

To keep out other strangers and to control the In- 

(5)' 



6 



TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 



dians, the Spaniards decided to build a line of forts or 
missions across the country. These missions often 
covered many acres of ground, and were surrounded 
by high thick walls of solid rock. Soldiers were kept 
in them to fight in case of need, and there were priests 




MISSION SAN JOSE 

to teach the Indians how to become Christians. Inside 
the walls there were houses for the priests and soldiers, 
storehouses, prisons and a church. Outside the walls 
were huts for the converted Indians. 

One of the most interesting of these missions is the 
Alamo. It is in the city of San Antonio and was built 
in 1744. Alamo, in Spanish, means poplar tree, and 



THE ALAMO i 

the mission was so named because it was built in a 
grove of poplars. 

It was in the old church of the Alamo that Colonel 
William B. Travis and a handful of brave men, one 
hundred and eighty all told, laid down their lives for 
the cause of Texas. 

Texas at this time belonged to Mexico. The Texans 
wanted to live in i^eace and be treated as all good 
citizens of a country should be. But they loved liberty 
even more than peace, and w^ould fight for it to their 
last breath. The president of Mexico was General 
Santa Anna, a cruel, hard-hearted man, who hated 
liberty-loving people. He wanted every knee to bow 
to him and every tongue to call him master. As the 
Texans would not do this, he determined to make them. 

He gathered a large army and marched against San 
Antonio. Colonel Travis was holding the city for the 
Texans. Only a few months before, the city had been 
captured from the Mexican General, Cos, by " Old Ben 
Milam" and Colonel Francis W. Johnson. General Cos, 
who was a brother-in-law of Santa Anna, was taken 
prisoner. 

Travis thought Santa Anna would seek revenge, so a 
sharp lookout was kept for him. A soldier was placed 
in the tower of the old church of San Fernando to give 
the alarm should the Mexicans appear. He had not 



THE ALAMO 9 

long to watch. At sunrise, February 22, 1836, he saw 
the soldiers of Santa x\nna pouring over the hills to the 
west of the city. On they came by hundreds and 
thousands, led by General Santa Anna himself, on a 
beautiful milk-white horse. At their head a blood-red 
flag was flying, which meant death to every Texan 
who should fall into their hands. Loud and shrill over 
the roofs of the still sleeping town rang the sentinel's 
cry of alarm. Soon the streets were crowded with peo- 
ple, men, women and children, all flying from the 
dreaded enemy. 

Travis quickly got his men together and marched 
into the Alamo. He thought he could fight better and 
hold out longer behind its strong walls. Scarcely were 
the gates closed when the Mexicans marched into the 
town. 

In the afternoon Santa Anna sent a messenger to 
Colonel Travis demanding a surrender. But the only 
answer he received was a cannon shot. 

Travis had only eight cannon, and very little powder 
and shot. Food also was very scarce. In the whole 
fort there were only three bushels of corn. But brave 
hearts were there. There was David Crockett, the 
fearless Tennessee bear hunter, with his deadly rifle; 
J. B. Bonham, a gallant son of South Carolina; James 
Bowie, the well-beloved friend of Travis; Colonel John 



10 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

N. Seguin, a noble-hearted Mexican who hated the 
cruelty of Santa Anna, and others whose names should 
never be forgotten by the people of Texas. 

Each day the enemy drew nearer and nearer. From 
every direction they poured showers of cannon balls 
into the fort. 

Travis now sent out messengers asking for help. 
He wrote: "We are completely surrounded by the 
enemy. For God's sake and the sake of our country, 
send us help. . We are determined to hold the Alamo 
to the last. I shall never surrender or retreat! Victory 
or death! " 

To a friend he wrote: "Take care of my little boy. 
If the country is saved I may be able to make him a 
fortune. But if all is lost and I shall perish I will leave 
him nothing but the proud recollection that he is the 
son of a man who died for his country." 

One of the messengers sent out was Colonel Bonham. 
He was sent to Goliad to ask help of Colonel Fannin. 
He delivered the message and with the answer started 
back to San Antonio. His friends tried to persuade 
him not to return. They told him the Mexicans would 
be sure to take the Alamo and he would lose his life. 
"It does not matter," he replied, "I will make my re- 
port to Travis or die in the attempt." " Mounted on a 
cream-colored horse, with a white handkerchief float- 



THE ALAMO 11 

ing from his hat, he dashed through the Mexican lines 
amid a shower of bullets and entered the fort un- 
harmed. Unable to save his comrades he was deter- 
mined to die with them." 

Dr. Sutherland and John W. Smith w^ere sent to 
Gonzales. When their story was told Colonel Albert 
Martin and thirty-two brave men of that town at once 
made ready to return with them to the Alamo. On 
March 1st they passed the ^lexican lines and entered 
the fort. 

On March 6th, the last day of the siege, Sutherland 
and Smith w-ere again sent out for help. Just outside 
the city they were seen by the Mexican sentinels who 
began firing on them. Dr. Sutherland's horse w^as shot 
and fell upon him, breaking his leg. Smith would not 
leave his friend to be killed. His own horse w^as ready 
to drop, but he drew the doctor up behind him and 
made off as fast as the tired animal could carry them. 
After many w^eary, painful miles they reached a farm 
where the wounded man was cared for. Smith dressed 
his wound and then went on to look for help. But it 
was too late. Nearer and nearer to the fort came the 
Mexicans. Travis and his little band often sallied out 
and drove them back, but in a little while they came 
on again and nearer than before. 

Early one morning a party of the enemy planted a 



12 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

cannon close to the fort and began firing. A ball struck 
the wall near where Colonel Crockett was sleeping. 
He sprang up and ran out on the roof. He saw a gun- 
ner with a lighted match in his hand just ready to fire 
another shot. Crockett raised his rifle to his shoulder 
and fired. The gunner fell dead. Another Mexican 
snatched the match and was preparing to touch off 
the cannon when he was stretched on the earth beside 
the first. A third, a fourth and a fifth seized the match, 
but all met the same fate. Others were afraid to ex- 
pose themselves, so they stopped firing and hurried off 
to camp, leaving the cannon ready charged where 
they had planted it. 

For ten days this little band of heroes defended their 
fort until they were completely worn down with watch- 
ing and fighting. They could hardly keep awake while 
firing. 

Travis knew that the fort could not hold out much 
longer, so he called his men together and made them 
a short talk. He told them that there was no longer 
any hope that help would come; that death was 
staring them all in the face; that anyone who wished 
might leave the fort. For himself, he meant to stay 
and die fighting for his country. He then drew a line 
on the ground with the point of his sword, and told 
all who were willing to stay with him to come across 



THE ALAMO 13 

the line. Scarcely were the words out of his mouth 
when all the men, all save one, with a yell sprang over 
the line. Tapley Holland was the first. He leaped 
across shouting, " I am ready to die for my country." 
Every sick man who could walk arose and tottered 
across the line. Bowie, who was too sick to walk, 
called to them not to leave him, and he was lifted over 
in his cot. 

On Sunday morning, March Gth, the whole Mexican 
army, six thousand strong, surrounded the Alamo. 
Santa Anna had made up his mind to capture the 
place, cost w^hat it might. He divided his troops into 
four columns, and put horsemen behind them to prick 
them on if they should wish to turn back. 

The troops carried ladders, to climb upon the walls, 
and axes and crowbars to batter them down. Soon af- 
ter midnight the bugles sounded and the whole line 
moved at a double quick upon the fort. But the Texans 
were ready for them, and poured upon them such a 
deadly shower of musket and rifle balls that they were 
obliged to fall back. Just at daylight ladders were 
placed against the walls, and soldiers by thousands be- 
gan to climb up. But they went to their death. The 
rifles of the Texans mowed them down like grass. The 
ladders were toppled over, and they were forced to re- 
treat. Again the bugles sounded the charge; again a 



14 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

rush was made for the walls, and this time, spurred on 
by their ofQcers from behind, the Mexican soldiers 
mounted the walls and tumbled over like sheep. 

Then began the last struggle. The Texans clubbed 
their guns when there was no longer time to load, and 
with shouts and yells fought from room to room. But 
there was no way of escape, even if one had been 
wanted. Mexicans were swarming on all sides. 

Colonel Travis, while standing on the wall cheering 
on his men, was shot and fell dying into the fort. In 
a little while he recovered enough to sit up, when a 
Mexican officer rushed forward to kill him. Gathering 
all his strength for a last blow, Travis met the Mexican 
with a thrust of his sword, and both died together. 

Bowie was still sick in bed. When the Mexicans 
appeared at the door of his room he raised himself on 
his elbow and fired his pistols and gun at them. Each 
shot brought down a man. He then drew his huge 
knife that was lying beside him on the bed, and waited 
the approach of the enemy. But they dared not go near 
him, and shot him from the door. 

With Major Dickinson in the Alamo were his wife 
and children, one a baby girl only a few months old. 
They had come to pay him a visit and before they could 
get away the Mexicans had surrounded the place. The 
father's heart was in great fear for the safety of his 
little ones. When he saw that all was lost, he tied his 




THE LAST STAND IN THE ALAMO 



16 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

baby to his back, and leaped from one of the upper 
windows. But it was a leap to death. Father and 
child fell to the ground riddled with bullets. 

Crockett, with several others, were driven to a corner 
of the church where, with backs to the wall, they 
fought with the fury of tigers. Their faces were be- 
grimed with powder, and blood trickled from many 
wounds. Crockett had a frightful gash across his fore- 
head. Piles of Mexicans, dead and dying, lay around 
them. 

When they could fight no longer, Crockett and five 
others were taken prisoners, and carried before Gen- 
eral Santa Anna. 

General Castrillon, who captured them, was a brave 
man, and he loved bravery in others. He wanted to 
save their lives. He said to General Santa Anna, 
" Sire, here are six prisoners, what shall I do with 
them?" 

" Did I not tell you that no prisoners were to be 
taken?'' shouted Santa Anna in rage. "To death 
with them.'' 

This cruel order was immediately carried out. The 
last Texan had fallen, and with him the Alamo. 

Upon the cenotaph erected at Austin, in memory of 
the defenders of the Alamo, is the following expressive 
and worthy tribute: "Thermopylae had its messenger of 
defeat, but the Alamo had none." 



REMEMBER GOLIAD 



REMEMBER GOLIAD 10 



REMEMBER GOLIAD 



When Colonel Bonham returned to the Alamo, he 
carried with him Colonel Fannin's promise of help. 
This was glad news to the little band in the Alamo, 
but, as we have seen, the help never came. 

Three da^^s after Bonham left Goliad, Fannin w^as on 
the way to the Alamo with three hundred men and four 
cannon. The cannon were on wagons drawn by oxen. 
There was only one yoke to each wagon. In crossing 
the San Antonio River, which runs through Goliad, 
the teams had to be doubled in order to get the cannon 
over, one at a time. Scarcely were they across the 
river, when the wagons broke down and a halt was 
made to mend them. 

While making this stop, Fannin learned that a large 
Mexican force had been sent to meet him and cut him 
off from San Antonio. 

Ox teams travel very slowly. San Antonio was a 
hundred miles away. Provisions were scarce. In the 
whole camp there were only a few pounds of rice and 
a little dried beef. The Alamo was surrounded. by an 
army of six thousand men. What could three hundred 
do against such a force? 

After talking over these matters with his men, 



20 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

Fannin thought it best to return to Goliad and prepare 
for the enemy. There was an old mission here and into 
this Fannin marched his troops. He strengthened the 
walls of the mission, dug ditches about it, and built 
cannon, already charged, upon the earthworks and 
waited the coming of the enemy. 

But now word came that some Texan families at 
Refugio were in danger and begging for help. Fannin 
sent Captain King with twenty-eight men to their 
assistance and to bring them away. When King arrived 
at Kefugio, he was met by a large Mexican force that 
drove him into the old mission at that place. From 
here he fought the Mexicans off until he could send to 
Fannin for more help. On hearing this news, Fannin 
sent Colonel Ward with one hundred men to King's 
relief. For several days no w^ord came from Ward or 
King. Fearing for their safety, Fannin sent out a 
messenger to seek news of them. This messenger did 
not return. A second was sent and a third, but none 
of them returned. All three fell into the hands of the 
Mexicans and were put to death. 

As his messengers did not return, Fannin became 
uneasy and anxious about his own little army. With 
Ward and King he had sent away a hundred and thirty 

ra-foo'je-o 



REMEMBER GOLIAD ,21 

of his best men. He had now with him only three 
hundred men, and the enemy was reported as having 
six times that number. Reinforcements soon came to 
Fannin, but not enough to add much strength to his 
small force. Believing that he would not be able to 
hold out against such odds, and knowing the fate that 
would meet him and his men should they be captured, 
he made up his mind to retreat. 

On the morning of the eighteenth of March, a small 
body of the enem^^ appeared before the fort and shots 
were exchanged. Earl}^ on the morning of the 19th the 
retreat commenced. A dense fog covered everything. 
Like a great white curtain it shut off the view of the 
countr}^ around. The baggage and cannon were placed 
on wagons drawn by oxen, the earthworks were torn 
down, and, under cover of the friendly fog, the little 
army marched out of the town. When the river was 
reached a portion of the cannon were thrown into it 
as the oxen w^ere too weak to draw^ them. Scouts were 
sent to the front and rear to keep a lookout for the 
enemy. 

When nine miles from Goliad a stop was made to 
rest and graze the oxen. The scouts reported no enemy 
in sight anywhere, and Colonel Fannin began to hope 
that he would not be followed. After an hour's rest 
the line of march w^as again taken up. But slow pro- 



22 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

gress was made. The wagons were heavy and the 
oxen were weakened from lack of food. 

They had gone about two miles when a company of 
the enemy's cavalry was seen coming from the timber 
that bordered the Coleta creek, about a mile away. 
The Texans halted and fired several shots from their 
cannon, but they all fell short. The scouts in the rear, 
unmindful of their duty, had lain down to rest. The 
firing started them to their feet. Finding them- 
selves almost surrounded by the Mexican cavalry, 
they sprang on their horses and sped like the wind to- 
ward the main body of the Texans. 

Other bodies of the enemy were now seen coming 
from the woods in different places. Fannin hurried up 
his teams to get to the timber in front of him, but one 
of his ammunition wagons broke down and he had to 
stop on the open prairie in a kind of hollow, and get 
ready for battle. 

Fannin formed his men in a hollow square, facing 
outwards. The wagons and teams were placed in the 
center of the square. The cannon were placed in posi- 
tion and the battle commenced. 

In front and rear the Mexicans moved down upon the 
little army of Texans. Their cavalry galloped up in 
dashing style, but w^ere sent reeling back to the woods 
by a discharge of Fannin's artillery. The infantry, 



REMEMBER GOLIAD 23 

1,200 Strong, now came down upon the rear, firing as 
thej came. The Texans sat down upon the grass and 
with rifles to the shoulder and fingers on the trigger 
waited for their approach. On they came and there 
seemed to be no hope for the little band of Texans. 
But suddenly there was a deafening roar. A sheet of 
flame leapt from the ranks of the Texans and hundreds 
of death-dealing balls from rifle and musket and 
cannon went tearing through the enemy's lines. 

The Mexicans fell by scores. Those that were not 
killed fell down in the grass to escape the dreadful hail 
of bullets. Now and then a soldier would raise himself 
above the grass to shoot; but whenever a head ap- 
peared, the rifles of the Texans took them down. And 
now the cavalry charged again, to be driven from the 
fleld a second time. 

The fight kept up from one o'clock in the afternoon 
till sundown. Then the Mexicans drew ofl:, leaving the 
Texans surrounded by patrols. During the day the 
Texans had seven men killed and sixty wounded. 
Colonel Fannin was among the wounded. The Mexi- 
cans lost nearly five times as many. 

The Texans spent the night building breastworks, 
for they knew that with the morning sun the enemy 
would be down upon them again. Great piles of earth 
were thrown up. The carts and wagons were taken 



24 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

from the center of the square and piled around the 
edges. All of that terrible afternoon and night the 
men were without water. Neither was there any food 
to be had. Their provisions had all been left at Goliad. 
Parched with thirst, weak from want of food, and worn 
out with toil, they saw the dawn break over the prairie. 

Fannin exp^ ted help to come during the night, but 
none came. The Mexicans, however, were reinforced 
by five hundred fresh troops with artillery. 

When Fannin saw^ the artillery his heart sank within 
him. His breastworks had been thrown up as a defence 
against rifles and muskets. But they were of no use 
against artillery. One discharge w^ould tear them to 
pieces. His own cannon were useless as he had no 
water to sponge them with, and they soon became too 
hot to handle. What should he do? The wounded 
men, with pitiful cries, begged him to surrender so 
that they might get water. 

While Fannin and his officers w^ere talking the 
matter over, Mrs. Cash, a woman who had come with 
the Texans from Goliad, said she would go over to the 
Mexican lines and get water for the wounded. Her 
little son, a boy of fourteen, went with her. The boy 
had been in the thickest of the fight the day before, 
and still wore his shot-pouch and powder-horn. When 
they got to the Mexican lines, Mrs. Cash made known 



EEMEMBER GOLIAD 25 

her errand. The Mexican general paid no attention to 
her request, but fixing his eyes on the boy, said: 
" Woman, are 3'ou not ashamed to bring one of such 
tender years into such a situation? " Quick as a flash 
the boy made answer, " Young as I am I know my 
rights, as does every Texan, and we intend to have 
them or die/' 

At that moment a white flag was raised over the 
Texan camp. This meant surrender. Some of the men 
thought it would be best to fight to the last and die 
with arms in their hands like the brave defenders of 
the Alamo. But with the cries of the wounded and 
dying ringing in their ears, begging for water, what 
else could they do but surrender! 

The Mexican general promised Colonel Fannin that 
he and his men should be well treated, and in eight 
da^^s sent back to their homes. With this promise the 
Texans immediately stacked their arms. 

On the same day all who were able to march were 
taken back to Goliad and placed in the old mission 
church, which they had left the day before. This was 
the 20th of March. A few days later Colonel Fannin 
and the other wounded were brought in, and also 
Colonel Ward and his men who had been captured at 
Refugio. This crowded the church very much. There 
was hardly room for the men to lie down at night. Be- 



26 TEXAS HTSTOKY STORIES 

sides this they were ill fed and badly treated in other 
ways. 

But the Texans gave little thought to these disagree- 
able matters. Thoughts of home filled their minds. 
Were they not to be released in eight days? How glad 
mother would be to see her boy again! How delighted 
the children would be at father's return! Sister would 
be so happy to see brother well and safe at home once 
more. It was Saturday night, the sixth day after the 
surrender. The morrow would bring freedom. Scarcely 
an eye was closed in sleep. Far into the night the 
soldiers sang " Home, Sweet Home." 

At sunrise the next morning a Mexican officer came 
into the fort, and told the men to get ready for a 
march; that they were to be liberated and sent back 
to their homes. This was joyful news indeed, and it 
was not long before every man stood ready to march. 
They were formed into three companies and marched 
out of the gates under a strong guard. " Poor fellows,'' 
said some Mexican women who were standing by the 
gate. 

Each company was marched in a different direction. 
When nearly a mile from the fort they were halted and 
told to kneel. " They are going to shoot us, boys," cried 
some one, and the clicking of the muskets all along the 
Mexican lines told that it was true. " Let us die like 



REMEMBEK GOLIAD 27 

men/' shouted some one. ''Hurrah for Texas!" cried 
others as the fatal bullets came whizzing through their 
ranks. Once, twice, three times the guns rang out on 
the still morning air. And at every discharge scores 
of the Texans fell dead and dying. Some who were not 
dead fell and pretended death; others fled toward the 
river, closely followed by the Mexicans. 

One who was there says: "The man in front of me 
was shot dead, and in falling knocked me down. I did 
not get up for a moment, but when I rose to my feet 
I found that the whole Mexican line had charged over 
me and were in hot pursuit of those who had not been 
shot and who were fleeing to the river, about five hun- 
dred 3 ards distant. I followed on after them. I knew 
I could not escape in any other direction, as the coun- 
try around was all open prairie. I had nearly reached 
the river when I had to make my way through the 
Mexican line ahead. As I did so a soldier charged me 
with his bayonet. As he drew back his musket to make 
a lunge at me, one of our men, coming from another 
direction, ran between us and the bayonet was drivert 
through his body. I was somewhat in a hurry just 
then, and I hastened to the bank of the river and 
plunged in. The river was deep and swift, but not 
wide, and, being a good swimmer, I soon gained the 
opposite bank, untouched by any of the bullets that 
were pattering in the water around my head." 



28 TEXAS HISTOEY STORIES 

Twenty-eight of the Texans escaped by running 
through the guards. Through the kindness of a Mexi- 
can officer, twenty-nine others were saved. 

The wounded were next dragged from their beds in 
the hospital and shot. Colonel Fannin w^as the last to 
die. When told to prepare for death, he said he was 
ready at that moment and had no wish to live after see- 
ing his men so cruelly murdered. He was then taken 
by a guard out to the square, where he was seated on a 
bench and blindfolded. He gave his watch and what 
money he had to an officer to be sent to his wife. As 
a last favor he asked to be shot in the breast and not 
in the head, and that his body be decently buried. The 
officer took the w^atch and the money and ordered the 
guard to fire at his head. His body was stripped of its 
clothing and thrown into a ravine near the fort. 

The bodies of the dead Texans, three hundred and 
fifty in all, were thrown into heaps and partly burned. 
Some months afterwards the bones were collected in 
front of the fort and buried by the Texan, General 
Rusk. No monument marks the spot where they lie 
buried. So long as time shall be, the story of their 
noble deeds will be told, and their memory will ever 
be kept green in the hearts of their countrymen. 



THE STORY OF SAN JACINTO 



THE STORY OF SAN JACINTO 31 



THE STORY OF SAN JACINTO 

General Santa Anna was very much puffed up over 
his victories at the Alamo and Goliad. He called him- 
self the Napoleon of the West. He thought the Texans 
were conquered and that they would not dare to op- 
pose him again. But he was mistaken. He did not 
yet know of what stuff the Texans were made. 

He divided his army into three parts and ordered his 
generals to sweep over the country and drive all the 
people across the Sabine River. The Sabine was then 
the boundary line between Mexico and the United 
States. He further ordered that all prisoners found 
in arms against Mexico should be shot. 

On the 11th day of March, five days after the fall of 
the Alamo, General Houston arrived at Gonzales. He 
had been appointed general of the Texan army, and 
was on his way to the Alamo to aid Travis. That night 
he heard of the terrible fate of Travis and his men. He 
also learned of the advance of Santa Anna with one 
division of his army, numbering four thousand men. 

The people were wild with excitement. Families 
left their homes and fled for their lives. " On every 
road leading eastward in Texas were found men, 
women and children moving through the country, 



32 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

over swollen streams and muddy roads, strewing the 
way with their property, crying for aid, and exposed to 
the fierce northers and rains of spring/' 

Houston gathered about him at Gonzales a little 
army of less than four hundred men and determined to 
do all in his power to prevent the advance of the 
enemy. He was short of provisions. Many of his men 
were without arms, and others had no ammunition. 
But one and all were anxious to fight. They longed 
for the day to come when they could avenge the death 
of the brave men of the Alamo. 

Houston knew it would be madness for a handful of 
half-armed men, such as his were, to fight the well- 
armed thousands of Santa Anna. He thought it best 
to retreat, and on the 13th of March he began to fall 
back. Four days later he reached the Colorado River. 
By this time his force had increased to over six hundred 
men. He remained here till the 26th of March, waiting 
for more men and artillery. He then fell back upon 
the Brazos, where he camped on the first day of April. 

The spring rains had set in and the river was out of 
its banks. The camps were pitched in the midst of 
trees, mud and water. The soldiers had few tents or 
coverings, and they suffered much. General Houston 
spent the night sitting on his saddle, with a blanket 
around him, and his feet on a piece of wood. 



THE STORY OF SAN JACINiO 33 

Here Houston heard the news of the sad fate of 
Fannin and his men. The hope of Texas now rested in 
his army. Should he make a false step all would be 
lost. This thought caused him much anxiety. To a 
friend he wrote: "Since we parted T have found the 
darkest hours of my life. For forty-eight hours I have 
neither eaten an ounce of anything, nor have I slept.'' 

He sent out letters begging the people to come to 
his assistance. He wrote: "Let the Mexican force be 
what it may, if the country will turn out .we can beat 
them. Send agents to the United States. Appeal to 
them in the holy names of Liberty and Humanity. Let 
the men from the east of the Trinity rush to us. If 
only three hundred men remain with me, I will die 
with them or conquer our enemy." 

Houston kept his army in the river bottom till April 
12. On that day Santa Anna reached the Brazos lower 
down and crossed over. Step by step he had followed 
the retreating Texans and he now thought they were 
safely entrapped. 

With this thought in his mind Santa Anna left the 

main body of his army and with seven hundred men 

and one cannon marched to Harrisburg to capture the 

Texan president. He sent word to Houston that when 

he had captured the president he would come back and 

smoke him out. 
3 



34 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

Santa Anna reached Harrisburg on the 15th of April 
but found the town deserted. The people had left 
their homes and fled for their lives. They had no de- 
sire to make the acquaintance of the "Prince of Butch- 
ers/' as Santa Anna was called. 

Burning the town, he followed on after President 
Burnet. The president had brought his family to New 
Washington, at the head of Galveston Bay, intending 
to send them to Galveston for safety. On the morning 
of the 17th, while making ready to go on board the 
boat that was to take them to Galveston, the Mexican 
cavalry came suddenly upon them. They hastily got 
into a small boat and rowed out some distance from 
the shore, thus making their escape. 

When Houston received the news that Santa Anna 
had crossed the Brazos he made up his mind to follow 
him and not wait to be "smoked ouf From being 
hunted, Houston now^ turned hunter. Santa Anna's 
army was scattered. It was in the enemy's country 
and far from its supplies. Defeat here meant ruin. 

This was just as Houston would have it. He crossed 
the river without delay and headed his army for Har- 
risburg. On the farther shore he found two small can- 
non, a gift to the Texans from the people of Cincinnati. 
The two little guns were called the "Twin Sisters/^ 
and Houston was very proud of them. 



THE STORY OF SATs^ JACINTO 35 

The march was a very difficult one. Heavy rains 
had fallen and the prairies were boggy. In many 
places the wagons had to be unloaded and the cannon 
carried or rolled through the mire. 

On the 18th of April the Texan army reached Buffalo 
Bayou near Harrisburg. The soldiers were almost 
worn out from their long, wearisome march, and Gen- 
eral Houston ordered a halt for a day, to rest. Scouts 
were sent out into the country to get news of the 
enemy. About dark they came in bringing two prison- 
ers with them. From these prisoners it was learned 
that Harrisburg had been burned, and that Santa Anna 
was not far away down the bayou. 

The hearts of the men " beat high in their breasts.'^ 
They forgot the trials of the march. They forgot that 
they were tired. Their one thought and wish was to 
be led against the butcher. General Houston felt just 
as the men did. He thought that now or never the 
blow must be struck that would make Texas ^ee. 

Early next morning (April 19th) the men were 
drawn up into line and told to prepare for marching. 
General Houston then made them a short talk. He 
told them he had made up his mind to cross the bayou 
and hunt up Santa Anna; that a great battle would 
perhaps be fought in which many of them would lose 
their lives; that any who did not wish to cross the 



36 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

bavou need not go. He told them that their battle cry 
should be, "Remember the Alamo!" "Remember 
Goliad I" 

" Not a man able to walk but begged to cross the 
bayou. Every sick man wept at being left behind. Men 
had to be drafted to guard the camp and the sick." 

This same morning General Houston wrote to a 
friend: "This morning we are in preparation to meet 
Santa Anna. It is the only chance of saving Texas. 
The troops are in fine spirits, and we go to conquer.' 
The odds are greatly against us, but I leave the result 
in the hands of a wise God, and rely upon his provi- 
dence." 

When the army arrived at the bayou,* they found the 
boat that was to take them over nearly filled with 
water. It was bailed out and the passage begun. 

When about half the army was over, an accident 
happened to the boat which came near sending it to 
the bottom. It was quickly mended, and by nightfall 
all of the troops were safely over. The boat was not 
strong enough to carry the horses, and they were 
made to swim the stream just below the ferry. " Thank 
God we are at last safely over," said General Houston. 

Soon after dark the line of march was again taken 
up. All through the night the prairies echoed with 
the tramp, tramp, tramp of these soldiers of freedom. 



THE STOEY OF SAN JACINTO 37 

At the head of the columns rode their great chief, 
General Houston. His eyes were bent upon the ground, 
and his thoughts were busy planning for the battle 
which he knew must soon take place. The stars looked 
down as if in blessing and lent their kindly light to 
guide the footsteps of the avengers. 

At one o'clock on the morning of April 20th a short 
halt was made to rest the men. Tired and hungry, 
they threw themselves on the bare ground and slept. 
For a pillow General Houston had a coil of rope which 
had been used in drawing the cannon. 

At daylight Houston was awake and with three taps 
of a drum aroused his sleeping soldiers. With one 
accord the men sprang to their feet and stood ready for 
duty. Orders were given to continue the march down 
the bayou. Scouts were sent out in every direction to 
get news of the enemy. 

After marching a short distance a halt was made 
for breakfast. The beeves had been killed and roast- 
ing fires kindled, when a scout came flying into camp 
with the news that Santa Anna was advancing up the 
bayou, and was not far away. 

General Houston immediately ordered the men into 
line. Hungry as they were, not a man held back. The 
meat was left half cooked, the horses were quickly 
harnessed to the cannon and the march began. 



38 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

Not many miles away the San Jacinto River joins 
Buffalo Bayou, and together their waters fall into 
Galveston Bay. It was to this place that the Texans 
were hastening. There was a ferry here over which 
Santa Anna hoped to cross into East Texas, and hither 
his army was hastening. Once across there would be 
nothing to oppose him. The whole of East Texas 
would be at his mercy. 

Knowing this, Houston urged his men forward at 
their utmost speed. He must reach the ferry before 
Santa Anna. On, on, sped the Texans, never halting 
once till the ferry came in sight. Great was their joy 
when they learned that the Mexicans had not yet come 
up. Houston knew the hour had come that was to de- 
cide the fate of Texas. The battle was now to be 
fought that would give the people freedom or chains 
and slavery. The heart of the great leader throbbed 
with pain as he thought of a possible defeat. Poor 
Texas! What would become of her then? Poor wives 
and mothers! Poor children! No; it should not be so. 
Justice and right would win. And were they not on 
the side of the Texans? 

Houston pitched his camp near the bank of the river 
in a beautiful grove of trees, and waited the approach 
of the enemy. The troops were formed for battle and 
the " Twin Sisters '' placed in position. In a short 



THE STORY OF SAN JACINTO 39 

while the scouts came in with the news that the Mexi- 
cans were in sight, and the bugles of Santa Anna were 
heard over the prairie sounding the charge of the Mexi- 
can army. 

The long-wished-for moment has come! There is 
the army of Santa Anna, the Butcher. There stand 
those Mexicans who stormed the Alamo and put to 
death Travis, Bowie, Crockett, Bonham and their 
immortal comrades! The hour of vengeance is at hand. 

Santa Anna, thinking to surprise Houston, quickly 
got his cannon in position and began firing upon the 
Texans' camp. The firing was kept up for an hour, but 
it did little damage. One shot struck the bridle bit 
of Houston's horse, and another wounded Colonel 
Neill, the commander of the " Twin Sisters." A 
column of infantry was then sent forw^ard. When 
within one hundred and fifty yards of the Texan lines 
the " Twin Sisters " opened upon them and sent them 
flying back. The Texans gave a great shout at this, 
but did not follow the retreating enemy. Houston did 
not mean to fight till he was sure of victory. 

This w^as about ten o'clock in the morning. In the 
afternoon, about an hour before sunset, another small 
fight occurred in which the Texans lost two men and 
several of their horses. 

Both armies now retired to their quarters for the 



40 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

night. The camps were about three-quarters of a mile 
apart. Each army could see the other's camp fires 
glimmering over the prairie and hear the sentinels 
tread as they paced to and fro on their beats. 

The Mexicans spent most of the night in throwing up 
breastworks of trunks and baggage. The Texans, after 
eating a hearty meal, laid themselves down to rest. 
As the first gray lines of dawn shot up in the east, three 
strange taps of a drum were heard, and the seven hun- 
dred soldiers sprang to their feet as one man. A hasty 
breakfast was prepared and eaten. Guns and ammuni- 
tion were made ready and the men lined up, awaiting 
the orders of their commander. 

By this time the sun had risen bright and clear over 
the prairie. " Old Sol shows a smiling face; we'll have 
good luck to-day/' said the soldiers. " The sun of vic- 
tory has risen again," said General Houston, as he 
sprang from his bed on the bare ground. All eyes were 
now turned on the enemy's camp. All wondered what 
the next move would be. About nine o'clock a large 
body of men was seen advancing over the prairie. Was 
help coming at last? Yes; but for the enemy! The 
scouts brought word that it was Cos, the Oath-Breaker, 
with several hundred fresh Mexican troops. 

Houston was greatly disturbed by this news. Should 
it reach the ears of his men it might discourage them. 



THE STORY OF SAN JACINTO 41 

and the battle on which he had staked his hopes and 
the hopes of Texas would not be fought. At noon he 
called his officers together to consult with them as to 
what was best to be done. Some were for attacking 
the enemy at once; others were in favor of aw^aiting an 
attack from him. The soldiers were then asked for 
their opinion. To a man they answered " Fight." 

It was three o'clock in the afternoon when Houston 
ordered the troops to parade. The men were in high 
spirits. Their officers could hardly restrain them from 
rushing headlong upon the enemy's camp. The moment 
had at last come. Houston ordered the charge and 
sounded the war-cry, " Remember the Alamo! " From 
rank to rank the magic words flew, and then, as if from 
one mighty throat, a cry went up that froze the blood 
of the Mexicans and chilled their hearts with terror. 

"At that moment a rider came up on a horse covered 
with mire and foam, swinging an axe over his head, 
and dashed along the Texan lines, crying, as he had 
been told to do, ^ I have cut down Vince's bridge — now 
fight for your lives and remember the Alamo.' " This 
rider was Deaf Smith, the famous scout. 

Vince's bridge was over Vince's Bayou, five miles 
from Harrisburg. Both armies had crossed this bridge 
on their downward march, and it was the only passway 
by land at this season of the year. Houston ordered it 



42 



TEXAS IIISTOKY STORIES 



cut down so that the enemy would have no way of 
escape. His own men, too, would fight harder, know- 
ing that there would be no way of escape for them 
should they be defeated. They must conquer or die. 
The Mexicans were taking their siesta, or afternoon 




UATTLS OF bA>; JACI^;TO 

nap, when the war-cry of the Texans broke on their 
ears. They were quickly formed into line by their 
officers, but they were dull and heavy from sleep. 

Down came the Texans upon them like an avalanche 
of fire, each man shouting like mad. Houston led the 



THE STORY OF SAN JACINTO 43 

center column right into the face of the foe. Suddenly 
a flash of fire was seen along the Mexican lines and a 
storm of bullets went flying over the Texan army. 
Houston's horse was shot several times, and one ball 
shattered the General's ankle. 

Before the Mexicans could reload, the Texans were 
upon them. Right over the breastworks they went, 
right into the midst of the enemy. Right into the 
bosoms of the Mexicans they poured such a deadly 
shower of musket and rifle balls that the soldiers of 
Santa Anna turned and fled like hunted deer before 
the hounds. 

Some fled towards the river, some towards a swamp 
in their rear, some towards Vince's bridge. But which- 
ever way they turned, there w^ere the avenging Texans. 
Many poor fellows, seeing escape impossible, fell on 
their knees to plead for mercy, crying, " Me no Alamo! 
Me no Alamo! " 

A large number took refuge in a clump of trees near 
by, where they made haste to surrender. The pursuit 
of the flying enemy w^as kept up till dark, when most of 
them were either killed or taken prisoners. 

The Mexicans lost six hundred and thirty killed, and 
two hundred and eight w^ounded. Seven hundred and 
thirty prisoners were taken. Only eight of the Texans 
were killed and twenty-five wounded. 



44 TEXAS HISTORY STOEIES 

When the Texans returned to camp they gathered 
around their commander^ and, slapping him on the 
wounded leg, exclaimed : " Do you like our work to-day. 
General?" "Yes, boys,'' Houston replied, "you have 
covered yourselves with glory." 

Just as the attack began, an old Texan was seen 
carrying two guns. He was asked why he carried more 
than one gun. He answered, " The Mexicans killed my 
son and son-in-law in the Alamo, and I intend to kill 
two of them for it." When seen later during the fight 
he said that he had killed his two men, and if he could 
find Santa Anna himself he would cut a razor-strop 
from his back. 

When Santa Anna saw his flying columns come rush- 
ing by, he called a drummer and bade him beat his 
drum. The drummer held up his hands and shouted 
that he was shot. Santa Anna then called to a 
trumpeter standing near to sound his trumpet. The 
trumpeter replied that he was shot. Just then a ball 
from the "Twin Sisters" struck a man standing by 
Santa Anna, carrying away his head. " How these 
Americans shoot," said Santa Anna, " I believe they 
will kill us all." Then mounting his horse he com- 
menced his flight. 

The morning after the battle Houston sent out men 
to scour the country around in search of any Mexicans 



THE STORY OF SAN JACINTO 45 

that might have escaped. Santa Anna had hidden in 
a thicket all night. When morning came he crept out 
and lay down in the tall grass. Here he was found by 
the Texans. When he heard the scouts coming he 
threw a blanket over his head and lay very still. He 
was dressed as a private soldier. His trousers were of 
coarse blue cotton and very much soiled. On his head 
he wore a soldier's skin-cap and on his feet a pair of 
red worsted slippers. A coarse blue jacket covered his 
shoulders. 

The Texans called to him to get up, but he only un- 
covered his head and stared at them. Not until he 
was told two or three times did he rise. His fine man- 
ners made the Texans think he was more than a com- 
mon soldier. It was also noticed that under his old 
clothes he wore a shirt of the finest linen, in the bosom 
of which were beautiful jeweled studs. He claimed 
that he could not walk, so he was mounted on a horse 
behind a soldier and taken at once to Houston's camp. 
Houston was lying on a mattress under a great oak 
tree when the party with the prisoner rode up. The 
pain of his wound had kept him awake all night, and 
now he had fallen into a slight doze. When the other 
Mexican prisoners saw the newcomer a cry of surprise, 
" El Presidente," broke from their lips. Houston was 
awakened by the noise and looked up. As he did so the 



46 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

prisoner, holding out his left arm and laying his right 
hand over his heart, said: "I am General Antonio 
Lopez de Santa Anna, President of the Mexican Repub- 
lic, and I claim to be jour prisoner of war." Thus did 
the proud " Napoleon of the West " humble himself 
before plain Mister Houston. 

While Houston was talking to Santa Anna he took 
from his pocket an ear of dry corn which he had carried 
for four days. Only a part of it had been eaten. He 
held it up and said to Santa Anna, " Sir, do you ever 
expect to conquer men who fight for freedom when 
their general can march for four days with nothing to 
eat but one ear of corn?" 

When Houston's soldiers saw the ear of corn they 
gathered around him and asked him to let them divide 
the corn. " We will plant it/' they said, " and call it 
Houston corn." 

"Oh, yes; my brave fellows," said the general, 
smiling, " take it and divide it among you ; give each 
one a kernel as far as it will go. Take it home and 
plant it in your own fields. See if you cannot make as 
good farmers as you have proved yourselves gallant 
soldiers. Do not call it Houston corn; but call it San 
Jacinto corn, for then it will remind you of your own 
bravery." 

With the capture of Santa Anna the Texans won 



THE STORY OF SAN JACINTO 47 

their freedom. The other Mexican commanders, with 
their soldiers, hearing that their president was a 
prisoner, made haste to return to Mexico. 

Swift riders carried the good news to all parts of the 
country and everywhere there was great rejoicing. 

" On this day we plant acacia- 
Pile bright flowers on grassy mounu, 

Dropping tears of kind remembrance, 
Where a soldier's grave is found. 

And, with reverential spirit, 
To the God of battles pray 

That our sons may proudly cherish 
This our San Jacinto Day." 



DRAWING THE BLACK BEANS 



Texas History Stories 



DRAWING THE BLACK BEANS 

Scarcely two months after the fall of the Alamo, 
Santa Anna was a prisoner in the hands of General 
Houston. The last Mexican had been driven from 
Texas soil, and Texas was free. 

Peace, like the gentle dew from heaven, settled down 
upon the country. No longer was heard the tramp of 
marching men; no longer the sound of flying feet, 
flying from a foe that knew no mercy; no longer the 
angry cannon's roar boomed over the prairies; no 
longer the battle shout affrighted peaceful vales. 
Once more deserted homes were filled with life and 
light. Once more the plough and sickle brought 
abundant harvests. Happiness filled the hearts of 
the people. But their troubles were not yet over. 

On his promise not to fight against Texas any more, 
Santa Anna was set free. In a few years he became 
emperor of Mexico. He now forgot his promise and 
sent an army of twelve hundred men under General 
Woll to take San Antonio. 

(5) 



6 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

Early one Sunday morning in 1842 the people 
were startled from their beds by the roar of cannon. 
They scarcely had time to dress when they were sur- 
rounded by Mexican soldiers and told that they were 
prisoners. 

The news soon spread all over the country, and men 
came flocking toward San Antonio to drive out the 
invader. They met under the walls of the old Mission 
Concepcion about two miles from San Antonio. Here 
General Somervell took command and they marched 
against the city. When they arrived there they found 
that Woll had retreated and taken many prisoners 
with him. Brothers, sons, fathers, countrymen were 
prisoners, and' they must be set free. Santa Anna 
must be taught to keep his soldiers at home and to let 
the Texans alone. 

With these thoughts in their breasts, the Texans 
took up the line of march for the enemy's country. 
The wintry winds from the bleak prairies howled about 
their ears. Many of the men were thinly clad and 
suffered much from the cold. Recent rains had turned 
the prairies into an ocean of mud through which they 
toiled with much difficulty. 

At last they reached the banks of the Rio Grande, 
where the city of Laredo now stands. Beyond was the 

la-ra'do 



DRAWING THE BLACK BEANS 7 

land of the cruel Santa Anna. The men asked to be 
led across the river at once into the enemy's country. 
General Somervell refused and ordered the men to 
return to their homes. 

Without fighting! Without striking one blow for 
their country's honor! Without making one effort to 
release the unhappy prisoners! Was it for this they 
suffered on their long, wearisome march! It should 
not be so. 

Three hundred of them refused to go home. They 
chose Colonel William S. Fisher as their leader and 
marched down the Rio Grande till they came to the 
Mexican town of Mier. Here they found the Mexican 
general, Ampudia, ready to receive them. 

Though he had ten men to their one, the Texans 
made up their minds to fight him. Here was their 
chance. Now they would teach Santa Anna his lesson. 
Now they would show him what it meant to interfere 
with the rights of Texans. 

The night before Christmas Colonel Fisher decided 
to attack the town. The night was pitch dark and a 
drizzling rain was falling. The men were wet to the 
skin and it was all they could do to keep their powder 
dry. Most of the night was spent in trying to find a 

am-poo'de-a 



8 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

place to cross the river. There were two fords not far 
away, but they were closely guarded by the enemy. 

At last a crossing was found and the little army 
took up its march. Silently, one by one, they clambered 
down the steep river bank and waded through the dark 
waters. They had scarcely reached the other side when 
they were set upon by a body of Mexicans. " Let them 
have it, boys," shouted the commander; and a hundred 
rifle balls went whizzing into the enemy's ranks. 

The Mexicans turned and fled, but soon came back 
with more mep and the fight began in good earnest. 
The Texans pressed forward to the city, fighting every 
foot of the way. The Mexicans had planted cannon 
in the street and kept up a raking fire. But no harm 
was done to the Texans. They escaped by dodging 
around the corners. When the cannon balls had 
passed, they would jump into the street and shoot 
down the gunners. 

On one side of the street, close to the Mexican 
cannon, was a row of strong stone houses. Into these 
houses the Texans rushed, first battering down the 
doors. With crowbars and axes, they made holes in 
the walls through which they poured a deadly fire 
upon the enemy. Three times the Mexican cannon were 
silenced, all the gunners having been killed. 



DRAWING THE BLACK BEANS 9 

The Mexicans now took to the housetops and re- 
turned the fire, this time killing and wounding several 
of the Texans. The firing kept up till noon, when a 
white flag was seen coming from the Mexican lines. 
The Texans could scarcely contain themselves for joy. 
They shouted to one another, " We have won the day, 
boys, and Ampudia is going to surrender." But their 
joy was short-lived. All too soon it was turned into 
grief. 

Colonel Fisher went out to meet the flag-bearer who 
brought a message from General Ampudia. The mes- 
sage said that it would be useless for the Texans to 
fight any longer; that General Ampudia already had 
a large army in the town, and, in a short while, eight 
hundred more fresh troops would arrive; that the 
Texans should surrender and save further bloodshed; 
that they would be treated well and exchanged for 
Mexican prisoners; that if they did not surrender they 
would be captured and every man put to death. Five 
minutes were allowed in which to return an answer. 

Colonel Fisher drew the men up in line and gave 
them the message. He told them that he thought it 
would be best for them to surrender; that General 
Ampudia was a man of his word, and could be trusted; 



10 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

that in a little while all would be exchanged and on 
their way back to their homes. 

The men listened in silence till he had finished, 
when a cry of surprise and anger burst from every lip. 
No; they never would surrender! While there was one 
load of powder and ball left and a man to fire it, they 
would fight. They had not yet forgotten the Alamo 
and Goliad, and, thinking of them, they could never 
trust the word of any Mexican. 

After the first excitement was over a few of the more 
faint-hearted marched over to the Mexican lines and 
laid down their arms. In a little while others followed, 
and still others. Soon all with bowed heads and 
aching hearts stood before the Mexican general — 
prisoners. 

General Ampudia had promised that they should be 
kept close to the Texas border till they were ex- 
changed. But he did not keep his promise. For five 
days after the battle he kept them shut up in close 
rooms, where they were almost stifled with bad air. 
Then he took them out, put heavy irons on their hands, 
tied them together in pairs, and set out for the City of 
Mexico, a thousand miles away. To the right and left 
of them and behind them marched Mexican soldiers 
with fixed bayonets. 



DRAWING THE BLACK BEANS 11 

The men had not walked for some time, and suffered 
much from sore feet. They were not allowed to stop 
for water, and they almost died of thirst. At night 
they were herded in filthy cow pens. Cold north winds 
blew down upon them, chilling them to the very bones. 
Their blankets had been stolen by the Mexican soldiers 
and they had scant fires. When the fires burned down, 
they would rake away the burned coals and lay them- 
selves in the warm ashes. When a town was reached, 
they were marched through the streets and around 
the square like the animals on circus day. 

For six long weeks this terrible march was kept up. 
But the Texans did not lose heart. When suffering 
most they were cheerful and uncomplaining. Their 
minds were kept busy with plans for escape, and they 
had no time to mope and fret. 

On February 10, 1843, they reached the farmhouse 
Salado. Here they determined to make a strike for 
freedom. Next morning at sunrise they rushed upon 
their guards who were eating breakfast, and took away 
their guns. Then out into the yard they went. Here 
were one hundred and fifty soldiers. These they 
scattered right and left, took their weapons and horses 
and with all speed set out for home. 

sal-a'do 



12 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

They were free once more, but surrounded by many 
dangers. They were in a strange country hundreds of 
miles from home. Their guides had been killed at the 
farmhouse. The Mexican soldiers would be sure to 
follow them. 

To keep the Mexicans from finding them, they left 
the main road and took to the mountains. Here they 
got lost and wandered about for days and days without 
food and water. Their tongues became so swollen that 
they could not close their mouths. Some of them be- 
came crazed. 

They killed their horses for food, but this only lasted 
a short while. They now had to travel on foot. But 
they were too weak to walk far. Every few minutes 
they would have to sit down to rest. They threw 
away their guns, as they were not strong enough to 
carry them. While in this condition they were sur- 
rounded one night by a band of Mexican soldiers and 
all taken prisoners again. 

The leader of this band was General Mexia. He was 
a brave, kind-hearted soldier, and treated his prisoners 
well. He gave them food and water and carefully 
tended the sick. When they were strong enough he 
took them back to Salado. 

ma-he-ah 



14 I TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

With sinking hearts they went back to their prison. 
What now would become of them no one could guess. 
They knew Santa Anna too well to believe that he 
would forgive them for trying to escape. Whatever 
might be their fate they determined to meet it like men 
and Texans. 

In a few days orders came from Santa Anna that all 
should be shot. General Mexia and other good men 
wrote to Santa Anna and begged him to spare the 
prisoners. He would not spare all, but was willing to 
have only one man out of every ten shot. General 
Mexia thought this was not right, either, and refused 
to obey the order. But Santa Anna was determined 
that they should die. Another officer was sent with 
orders to shoot every tenth man. 

The prisoners were heavily ironed and drawn up 
in line in front of their guards. The cruel orders were 
then read to them by one of their number. When the 
reading was finished, an officer, holding an earthen 
mug in his hand, came into the shed where they were 
confined. In the mug were one hundred and seventy- 
six beans, the number of the prisoners. One hundred 
and fifty-nine beans were white and seventeen were 
black. The prisoners were each to draw a bean from 
the mug. The black beans meant death. 



DRAWING THE BLACK BEANS 15 

As their names were called each man stepped for- 
ward and drew. Not a step halted, not a hand shook. 
The men had faced death too often to be afraid of it 
now. Besides, how sweet it is to die for one's country! 

Major Cocke drew a black bean. Holding it up be- 
tween his thumb and forefinger, he said, " Boys, I told 
you so; I never failed in my life to draw a prize." 

Major Robert Dunham said, " I am prepared to die 
and would to God I had the chance to do the same 
thing over again." 

James Torrey, almost a boy, said, " For the glory of 
my country I have fought, and for her glory I am will- 
ing to die." 

When all had drawn, those having black beans were 
marched outside the shed and had their irons knocked 
off. They were then told to prepare for death. All 
knelt down, and Major Dunham offered up a feeling 
prayer. Some of their comrades who had draw^n white 
beans were allowed to go out and take leave of them. 
They sent many loving messages to the dear ones in 
the far away Texas homes. 

They wanted to die like brave soldiers with their 
faces to the foe, and asked to be shot in front. But 
this was not allowed. They were tied together, blind- 
folded, and made to sit down on a log with their backs 



16 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

to the soldiers. eTust about dark the word was given — 
" Fire ! '' — and half a hundred musket balls went speed- 
ing on the errand of death. Again and again the guns 
rang out on the evening air, and then all was still. The 
terrible deed was done. 

Santa Anna's cruelty had claimed seventeen more 
victims; to freedom's honor roll seventeen more heroes 
were added. A trench was hastily dug and seventeen 
lifeless bodies, without shroud or coffin, were thrown 
into it. Here slept the brave men of Mier for five years. 
But they were not forgotten. In 1848 their bones were 
dug up and by tender and loving hands brought back 
to Texas. They were reburied at La Grange, where 
a beautiful monument, erected by the State of Texas, 
marks their last resting place. 



CASTLE PEROTE 



CASTLE TEROTE 19 



CASTLE PEROTE 

The drawing of the black beans took place on March 
25, 1843. The morning after the fatal lottery the re- 
maining prisoners, tied in pairs and strongly guarded, 
again took up the march for the City of Mexico. 

Being unused to mountain travel, the prisoners soon 
broke down. When they were just ready to drop help- 
lessly upon the ground, the sharp prick of a bayonet in 
the hands of a guard would send them staggering a few 
paces farther. At night they were thrown into filthy, 
foul-smelling, vermin-filled rooms, where they could 
get no rest. At other times they were herded in stables 
with horses, cows and other animals. 

After many days of toilsome marching the City of 
Mexico was reached. The prisoners w^ere greatly re- 
joiced, as they believed that they would soon be re- 
leased. With a little money, which they happened to 
have, they bought ice creams and cakes and made 
merry over their coming good fortune. 

As the days passed by and brought no order for their 
release, the prisoners began to grow uneasy. W^hat if 
Santa Anna should play them false again! Their fears 



20 TEXAS HISTORY STOEIES 

were heightened by the changed manner of their guard 
to them. Some days they were given nothing at all to 
eat, and at night they had to sleep on dirty blankets on 
the open pavement where they were almost devoured 
by mosquitoes and other insects. 

Early one morning a company of cavalry rode up to 
their station and an officer gave to the captain of the 
guard a sealed packet. It was an order from Santa 
Anna for the prisoners to be taken to the strong castle 
of Perote, one hundred and sixtj^ miles away. " In a 
few minutes/' says one of the prisoners, " each of us 
had to roll up his dirty blanket and sheepskin, take 
them under his arm, and march down the street with a 
file of mounted lancers on either side." 

In a short while the prisoners were allowed to hire 
donkeys, which they rode without bridle or saddle. 
Though a donkey's ears are large, he seems never to 
hear any commands to go faster, and the only way to 
get him to move at all is to prick him with a shari)- 
pointed stick just above his tail. 

As the prisoners were traveling through the moun- 
tains in this primitive style, they came to the place 
where General Mexia, the kind-hearted ofiicer who 
refused to have the Mier men shot, had sacrificed his 

per-o-te 



CASTLE PEROTE 21 

own life for liberty's sake. He hated the tyrant Santa 
Anna, and longed to have Mexico rid of him. Driven 
from Mexico by Santa Anna, he came to the United 
States. At New Orleans he raised a small force of men 
and, returning to Mexico by sea, attacked the impor- 
tant city of Tampico. He was badly defeated and most 
of his men were killed or taken prisoners. Twenty- 
seven of them were afterward shot by order of Santa 
Anna. 

Mexia escaped and returned to New Orleans, where 
he soon raised another force for the capture of the 
Mexican capital. When he landed in Mexico, he was 
met by an army that claimed to be friendly to his plans. 
The two armies marched together till well up among 
the mountains, when his supposed friends declared that 
they were soldiers of Santa Anna and called on him 
to surrender. Taken thus by surprise and being 
greatly outnumbered, there was nothing else to do. 
He was then carried before Santa Anna, who offered 
him his life if he would quit fighting against him. " No, 
sir," said the grand old soldier, " I will oppose you as 
long as I have an arm to strike for liberty." He was 
then taken out and shot. 

His blood rendered this spot sacred to the Texan 
prisoners. Here freedom's last champion had fallen; 



22 TEXAS HISTORY STOEIES 

humanity's last friend had here found a grave. They 
called to mind his kindness to them when, sick and 
starving, they were recaptured after their flight from 
Salado. Their hearts Avere torn with conflicting emo- 
tions. Grief, anger, pity, hatred, by turns flashed over 
them. Oh, for one hour of freedom with their good 
rifles in their hands! They would tear down the walls 
of Santa Anna's palace and wreak vengeance upon him 
for all his misdeeds. The guards, suspecting their 
thoughts and fearing an outbreak, hurried them away. 
Three days later they came in sight of their prison. 
Castle Perote. 

This castle was a hundred years old and one of the 
strongest in Mexico. Its walls were sixty feet high and 
eight feet thick, and built of stone so hard that the 
toughest steel could scarcely make a dint upon it. Just 
outside the walls was a great ditch, or moat, two hun- 
dred feet wide and twenty feet deep. In times of 
danger this moat was filled with water and the only 
means of crossing it was by a drawbridge let down 
from the castle side. On the farther side of the moat 
was another stone wall, and fifty feet beyond this, a 
wooden palisade built of squared cedar timbers twelve 
feet long set upright in the ground. Another and 
smaller ditch outside the palisade completed the works. 



CASTLE PEROTE 23 

Eighty pieces of artillery planted upon the walls com- 
manded every approach to the castle. 

Inside the castle proper were storehouses, soldiers' 
quarters and cells for prisoners, all opening upon a 
center square, or plaza, which was used as a parade 
ground by the soldiers. 

Amid the blast of bugles and the roll of drums, the 
Texans were conducted across the drawbridge to the 
plaza into the presence of the governor of the castle. 
Here they met, in rags and chains, fifty of their coun- 
trymen who had been captured by General Woll in his 
raid on San Antonio. The names of the newly-arrived 
prisoners were called to see that none had escaped; 
then they were numbered and thrown into one of the 
large dungeon cells of the castle. Next to them, in 
another large cell, the men from San Antonio were 
confined. 

The floor, ceiling and walls of these cells were of solid 
stone. Each cell had only one small door, and a loop- 
hole four by tw^elve inches. No ray of sunshine had 
ever entered them. The air was cold, thick and stifling; 
foul odors filled every nook and corner. 

It was with a sort of dazed feeling that the prisoners 
found themselves in one of these gloomy dungeons. 
The thick darkness blinded them and for a while they 



24 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

huddled together near the door utterly confounded. As 
their eyes, however, grew accustomed to the darkness, 
their spirits revived and they began to explore their 
prison. With the palms of their hands they felt over 
every foot of the walls as high as they could reach ; ii 
like manner, on their knees, they examined the floor. 
Solid rock everywhere! 

Robert Dunham was right when he said that he had 
drawn a prize in the fatal black bean. Better a thou- 
sand deaths than life in this horrible place. Why had 
not some friendly bullet set them free at Mier! Why 
had not starvation claimed them in the mountains! The 
traitor, Mexia! why had he not carried out the orders 
of his master! How gladly would they go to execution 
now if Santa Anna would but give the order! With 
such thoughts as these running through their minds, 
they sank dow^n on the cold, hard floor and in fitful 
slumbers and feverish dreams passed their first night 
in Castle Perote. 

Weak and wan and shaking with ague, brought on 
by the damps of their dungeon, it was a forlorn little 
company that was summoned before the governor the 
next morning. They were lined up on the plaza, where 
orders were given to put them in irons. Two and two 
they were fastened together, one by the right foot and 



CASTLE PEROTE 25 

the other by the left. With a smile on their lips, but 
with vengeance in their hearts, the men stepped for- 
ward to receive their "jewelry," as they called the 
chains. 

This kind of jewelry, however, was not becoming to 
Texans. It might do for the slavish Mexicans, but for 
free-born Americans, never! The chains were scarcely 
riveted before plans were made to get them off. Some 
bribed the blacksmith to use leaden instead of iron 
rivets. These when blackened with charcoal looked 
like iron and could be easily taken out. Others broke 
their chains by pounding them against a large stone 
with a cannon ball which was found in the cell. 

The chains were laid aside except when a visit was 
expected from the officers of the castle. Whenever they 
heard an officer coming every man jumped for his 
"jewelry " and clamped it on in great haste, putting on 
at the same time a look of the most i)erfect innocence. 
The w^arden threatened the severest punishment if the 
chains were not worn; but no sooner w^as his back 
turned than the irons would be on the ground again. 

Not many days after their arrival at the castle, the 
prisoners were told that they must go to work. Their 
first impulse was to refuse. They were prisoners of 
war, and for this there seemed to be no help; but as for 



26 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

being slaves to these yellow, pepper-eating barba- 
rians — never! they would die first. All protests, how- 
ever, were useless, and they were set to work with 
wheelbarrows, cleaning the castle of its filth. After 
this they were harnessed to wagons, twenty-five in a 
team, and made to haul rocks from the mountains for 
the repair of the fortifications. 

The labor was severe, but " at no time," says one of 
the prisoners, "did the men lose their buoyant spirits; 
nor did they ever lose an opportunity for fun. McFall, 
a large, powerful man, was put in the lead, and was 
always ready to get scared and run away with the 
wagon. This was often done, and the corners of the 
adobe houses always suffered in such cases. The Mexi- 
can officers would laugh and the owners of the houses 
would swear in bad Spanish. Sometimes the team 
would stop in the street, throw off the harness, and 
half of them go into a drinking house on the right, and 
the other half to another house on the left. When they 
were driven out of one house they would run over to 
the other, thus keeping the overseers busy." The over- 
seers, who were usually convicts, carried a lash which 
they were permitted to use whenever the prisoners 
became unruly; but they seldom resorted to it as the 



CASTLE PEROTE 27 

Texans, at the peril of their lives, would return each 
blow with interest. 

One day while Middleton, the prisoner quoted above, 
was stooping to receive a load of sand which he was to 
carry on his back to the castle, he was struck by an 
overseer. Quick as a flash he threw down the sand, 
and, seizing a stone, knocked the overseer down. The 
guards ran up, but a Mexican officer present protected 
the prisoner. 

Various devices were employed for escaping work, 
not that the work itself w^as overburdensome, but the 
thought of having to do it for the " Greasers '' was what 
hurt. Dan Henrie said that he never put any stones on 
the mountains and " he would be shot if he took any 
away." So saying, with a steel pen which he found on 
an officer's writing table he scratched both his legs 
from knee to ankle and wrapped them in many folds of 
old shirts and blankets. They next day when the order 
came to go to work, his legs were so sore and inflamed 
that he could scarcely walk, and in consequence his 
first day's work was his last. 

It would have been better for the prisoners had they 
kept cheerfully at work. It would have kept them in 
the open air, away from the disease-breeding dungeons 
of the castle, and preserved their health. As it was, 



28 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

they were confined more and more closely as the days 
went by. At length they were attacked by a virulent 
fever which soon sent most of them to the hospital. 
Of the entire number of prisoners only three escaped 
this dreadful visitation. Eighteen of them died and 
were buried in the ditch surrounding the castle. 

" That disease! How can I find language to describe 
it?" writes one of the prisoners. "The sufferings of 
others I could only judge by sight; but mine I knew by 
experience — I felt them. I lay in the hospital thirty 
days, fourteen of w^hich I was entirely unconscious. In 
my delirium I imagined myself many, many miles away 
from misery and among friends. But, alas! I lay on a 
sick couch unattended and uncared for. And, oh! such 
sickness, such misery! Give me death in any shape 
save from that disease.'' 

The prisoners lived in the hope of being released. 
This thought sustained them in their waking hours, 
and in dreams brought them comfort and consolation. 
But the days dragged slowly by and lengthened into 
weeks and months; and their dungeon claimed them 
still. Every indignity was heaped upon them. They 
were cursed and abused and beaten. Scarcely enough 
food was given them to keep soul and body together; 
and what they did get was horribly cooked and unfit for 



CASTLE PEROTE 29 

dogs, much less men. The meat was so rotten that 
when thrown against the wall it would stick like glue. 

To while away the time and keep up their spirits the 
prisoners spent several hours each day in dancing and 
singing. " During a dance," says one, " we step to the 
music of a violin with the clank of chains as an accom- 
paLiment. The clatter of the irons would be dismal to 
others; but we are well acquainted with it, and what 
was once so dreadful is now^ nothing. In singing we are 
at times so loud and harsh that it causes the guard to 
quake with fear. ^ Rosin the Bow ' is sung excellently. 
We sometimes laugh so loud and long that the officer 
on guard orders us to * keep silence.' " 

One of the men kept a journal, in which he wrote 
down the happenings of each day. The above quota- 
tion is from this journal, which continues as follows: 

"August 1, 1844. — We have been changing rooms to- 
day. The governor causes us to move occasionally, so 
that the guard can look for holes in the floor or walls. 

" 2d. — The carpenters are all chained two and two 
and put to work outside the castle. 

" 3d. — Nothing to eat, as usual. 

" 6th. — We move again. 

" 10th. — Nine of us went to the mountains for 
brooms, but could not give slip for home. 



30 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

" 15th. — This is our mail day. Our only pleasure is 
in the hope of receiving news from home concerning 
our friends or our liberation. But we are disappointed 
this time. 

" 16th. — This is wash day with me. I wash very well 
when I have any clothes to operate on, but they are 
scarce. I have learned to-day that the men in room No. 
7 (I am in No. 8) are trying to dig their way out. 

" 19th. — We have come to the conclusion that there 
is no possible chance for our liberation by peaceable 
means; and, therefore, if we risk nothing, nothing will 
we gain. The first half chance I get, I'm off, off! 

" 23d. — This morning fifteen men went to the moun- 
tains, about five miles off, after rock. While loading the 
cart, two of them. Bush and Thurmond, taking advan- 
tage of slight negligence of the guard, ran off. In the 
confusion and hurry the guards forgot to fire upon them 
and they succeeded in getting away. Thurmond was 
run down and brought back in about two hours. We 
have not yet heard from Bush. 

" Thurmond states that he was fired at by a soldier, 
who came near him, but the ball passed harmlessly 
over his head. After running for some time — as long 
as he could — he fainted and fell. He does not know 
how long he thus remained senseless. On coming to, 



OASTLE PEROTE 31 

he arose and, scarcely able to walk, managed to pull 
himself along by some bushes into the bed of a ravine. 
While thus working his way along he was overtaken 
by two mountain Indians. He kept these at bay with 
a pocket knife till at length, casting his eye up the 
mountain, he saw advancing on him a squad of Mexi- 
can soldiers. Escape was impossible, and with what 
grace he could he gave himself up and is now lying in a 
dark, damp cell, alone, double-ironed and very sick. 

" The major of this post now says that we shall not 
receive any more money from our friends, nor cook any 
more food in our own way; in short, that we shall live, 
as do the criminals, on weak coffee in the morning, 
poor meat and broth at noon, and boiled beans at night. 
He is greatly enraged. Let him look out for squalls and 
we will do the same." 

About a year previous to this record, in July, 1843, 
sixteen prisoners under the leadership of General 
Thomas J. Green, succeeded in escaping by boring 
through the castle wall. The only tools they had to 
work with were some narrow carpenter's chisels of 
very poor quality, which they had smuggled in under 
their blankets. The officers were always on the look- 
out for attempts to escape and, as will be remembered, 
made the prisoners change rooms often so that the 



32 TEXAS HISTORY STOEIES 

floors and walls might be inspected; consequently the 
greatest caution was necessary to avoid discovery. 

Nothing daunted by these difficulties, and inspired 
by the hope of freedom, the slow work was begun. The 
labor of hours was necessary to loosen one tiny chip; 
and as the product of a hard day's work not more than 
a hatful of chips could be gathered. But there was joy 
over that small hatful. Only one man could work at a 
time; and he only by lying prone and resting on his 
elbows, which position soon became very painful. 
After working his turn, he would gather up the bits of 
stone and mortar he had broken off and bury them 
under some loose brick in the floor, and another would 
take his place. 

Under the incessant labor of the prisoners, the 
breach in the wall grows deeper and deeper; and at last 
the stone gives back a hollow sound, which denotes 
that the end is near. At that sound the tool drops from 
the nerveless hand of the laborer; his elbows give way 
and his face falls on the stone; he shakes as with an 
ague and sobs like a child. 

The work was continued until but a thin shell re- 
mained on the outside, which could easily be broken 
through when the time came for leaving. In the mean- 
time preparations for flight were made. Little by little, 



OASTLE PEROTE 33 

sugar, bacon and chocolate, enough for two weeks' 
rations, were bought with money provided by a friend 
in Mexico. Bread furnished by the prison was saved 
and stored away. Each man was supplied with a heavy 
w^alking cane of sapote wood, which had been made by 
the carpenters at odd times and secreted. These canes, 
together with pocket knives, w^ere their only weapons 
of defence. It was arranged that, after getting clear 
of the castle, the party escaping should separate in 
squads of not more than two or three in order to escape 
notice more easily. 

The flight began on the night of July 2, 1843. The 
uncertainty of the outcome and a knowledge of what 
their fate would be should they be recaptured caused 
several to waver and finally decline to make the 
attempt to escape. Sixteen resolved to go, whatever 
the hazard. 

^'At half-past five o'clock,'^ says General Green, " I 
took leave of my friends, and a sad parting it Avas. Few 
believed it possible for us to escape. I never shall for 
get that hour. As we grasped each other- s hands and, 
as most believed, for the last time, the big tears filled 
the eyes of those brave men and they wished me suc- 
cess with an utterance which show^ed that their hearts 
were overflowing." 



34 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

At six o'clock the jailer came in as usual to count the 
prisoners and see that everything was secure for the 
night. The count was made, and all were found 
present. Then with a " bueno " (very good) the officer 
passed out, slamming the door after him. 

The night was dark and a cold rain was falling, 
which caused the guards to seek the light and warmth 
inside the castle. At seven o'clock the flight began. 
The thin shell of the wall that had been left on the 
outer side of the breach was removed and a rope, by 
which the prisoners could lower themselves to the bot- 
tom of the moat, was fastened on the inside and passed 
through the opening. It was now discovered that the 
breach on the outside w^as too narrow for any but the 
smallest men to pass through, and it required two 
hours to enlarge it. 

"All things being now ready," continues General 
Green, "John Toowig got into the breach feet foremost, 
and, drawing his bundle after him, inch by inch 
squeezed himself out and let himself down hand over 
hand about thirty feet to the bottom of the moat. The 
depth and the smallness of the hole rendered this 
operation exceedingly slow. At half-past twelve 
o'clock, after three hours and a half of hard labor, all 
of the sixteen had jsafely landed. 



CASTLE PEROTE 35 

"As Isaac Allen made his appearance at the outer 
aperture, he said, ' Stand from under, boys; I can't say 
whether these hands are going to hold'; and no sooner 
said, than down he came right in the midst of us. The 
sand being about ankle-deep, it was an easy fall, and 
he rose as if nothing unusual had occurred. Ike had 
previously had the contents of his gun passed through 
both hands, w^hich weakened his hold, and was the 
cause of his falling. 

" When Samuel Stone's turn came, being a large 
man, he stuck fast in the hole and could neither get 
backw^ard nor forward. In this situation, the prisoners 
on the inside of the room, who were assisting in the 
escape, had to reach into the hole, tie ropes to his hands 
and draw him back. But he had no intention of being- 
left. ^ I have a wife and children,' he said, ^and I would 
rather die than stay here longer; I will go through 
or leave no skin upon my bones.' He then disrobed 
himself, and, making a second effort, with great labor 
succeeded in pulling himself through; but he left both 
skin and flesh behind." 

Shortly after midnight they had crossed the moat 
and the outer wall of the fortification and found them- 
selves in the open country surrounding Perote. They 
were free men once more. A cheer rushed to their lips, 



36 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

but was quickly suppressed; and instead they gave 
vent to their joy by jumping up and cracking their heels 
together three times. 

Arrangements had been made for a guide and horses 
to take them to Vera Cruz, where they expected to ship 
for home; but the guide failed to meet them, and they 
were obliged to keep to their first plan of escaping in 
pairs. There was no time to be lost, so, wishing each 
other a safe journey' and giving a hearty handshake, 
they separated. 

We cannot follow all of these parties; it would make 
our story too long. One-half the number succeeded in 
making good their escape, and after many exciting- 
adventures reached Texas; the rest were soon recap- 
tured and taken back to the castle, where for another 
year they had to endure every insult and indignitj^ that 
their inhuman jailors could invent. The remaining 
prisoners in Perote, who had not attempted to escape, 
were released by Santa Anna September, 1844, at the 
dying request., it is said, of his young and beautiful 
wife. 

General Green's account of the escape of his party, 
consisting of himself, Daniel Henrie, Charles K. Eeese 
and John Toowig, is full of interest: 

" Myself and Dan took the road for Vera Cruz, pro- 



CASTLE PEROTE 37 

ceeded at a brisk walk, occasionally stooping low, and 
surveying the horizon to see whether any one was 
moving. When about three miles from the castle, and 
near a powder-house, manj^ dogs flew out as if they 
would certainl}^ take us. We knew how cowardly 
Mexican dogs were, however, and kept on our way, 
balancing our sticks in our hands in case we should 
have to use them. 

"About five miles farther on Eeese and Toowig, who 
had gone ahead for the guide and horses, having been 
disappointed in their mission, joined us and we made 
for the mountains. 

" The only shoes we could get in the castle were a 
kind of thin goatskin slippers, fit only to be kept dry 
and worn in the house. In a little while, as we walked 
through the wet grass — a heavy rain had fallen — they 
became soaked with water, stretched and fell to pieces. 
Our feet suffered much from the sharp mountain 
stones; and as we had become greatly weakened by 
our prison life, the labor of mountain climbing was very 
fatiguing. Before it was fairly light we had reached a 
point some distance above the settlements; and our 
tracks having been effaced by the rain, we felt reason- 
ably secure; and selecting a dark cove, lay down to rest. 

" It was near sundown when we resumed our jour- 



38 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

ney, thinking it more safe to travel by night than by 
day. But we escaped one danger only to fall into 
another. Our course lay over an excessively broken 
country. Inaccessible mountains and bottomless 
ravines followed hard upon each other, and, at times, 
stopped further progress. 

" We usually traveled single file, each in turn taking 
the lead. One dark night, when it was my turn to lead, 
we fell into a level path, which we pursued several 
hundred yards. We could not see the length of our 
arms ahead of us, so I kept the end of my walking stock 
always about two feet head of me, feeling the way. At 
length I felt no bottom. I stopped as quick as thought, 
and drawing back a step, called to my companions to 
halt. Then, stooping down, with my stick I reached 
as far as my arm would allow, but still found no bot- 
tom. Lying flat on our faces and straining our eyes, 
we discovered what we took to be the tops of trees far 
below. This discovery gave us a great fright. We were 
on the brink of one of those frightful precipices, and a 
single false step might plunge us headlong into the 
depths. We now changed our course and felt our way, 
inch by inch, down a steep descent of at least a mile 
into a valley which lay at the base of the precipice. 
Even as I write, the remembrance of that dreadful 



CASTLE PEROTE 39 

situation unnerves me. One step more and myself, then 
Reese, and then Dan would .have fallen a thousand 
feet — for no alarm from the foremost would have 
reached the next — leaving no one on earth a knowledge 
of our destiny. 

" Daylight found us lying under our wet blankets in 
some thick bushes. Here we rested a few hours, being 
much exhausted and suffering greatly for want of re- 
freshment. In our descent from the mountain we fre- 
quently slipped and fell with great violence; and our 
feet and legs were skinned, swollen and very sore. 
From a small creek running near by our hiding place 
we got water and, lighting a fire, made cup after cup 
of coffee, which greatly relieved us. We then bathed 
our bruises and had a good chat, the first since we left 
the castle, which restored our spirits and strengthened 
our courage to proceed on our journey. 

"From the distance and general direction that we 
had traveled, we believed that we were not far from 
the city of Jalapa; and we had not gone many miles 
from our cooking place when our conjecture was found 
to be correct. We heard the ringing of the city bells, 
of which there are great numbers in every Mexican 
town, and by the bright moonlight saw the city itself 



40 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

spread out before us, resting peacefully in the lap of 
the mountains. 

" It was our plan to leave the city to the right, strike 
into a river valley, which our map shoAved led to the 
seacoast, and thence follow it down. 

" We bore to the left to avoid the city, but soon found 
ourselves in a maze of stone fences covered with briers 
and prickly pear by which our feet were cruelly 
lacerated. The farther we proceeded, the thicker, it 
appeared to us, became the settlements; so we resolved 
to play our game boldly and strike for the heart of the 
city. 

" Indian file we passed up one street and down 
another, our broad-brim sombreros pulled down over 
our eyes and our shoulders and knapsacks covered with 
blankets, after the fashion of the Mexicans. To the 
frequent challenge of the sentinels w^e made no reply, 
but kept our course in silence. It appeared to us that 
there were more dogs in this town than we had ever 
before seen in one place. They flew out at us, barking 
in an angry tone, as if they knew us to be strangers, yet 
keeping at a respectful distance from our sticks. 

"After wandering about the city till near daylight, 
we withdrew to the outskirts to seek a hiding place for 
the next day. A little round-top hill, rising out of the 



CASTLE PEROTE 41 

valley south of the city, we found just suited to our 
I>urpose. It was covered with high weeds and brush, 
and, from its appearance, was not often ascended. 
Here in our wet clothes and blankets — a cold, drench- 
ing rain had fallen — we lay down on the wet ground 
and tried to get a little rest and sleep. 

" We remained here till next evening, when, as it was 
growing dark, we returned to the city. Coming to an 
old church, around which grew some high weeds, 
Reese and I seated ourselves by the wall in the weeds 
and sent Dan ahead to find the house of a friend who 
had promised us aid. In a short while Dan returned. 

bringing Don with him. The Don was expecting 

us, and took us home with him, where we found his 
good wife preparing us a warm supper. 

" We remained with these good people five days and 
were treated with a kindness we shall never forget. 
They gave us the best of food and all kinds of delicious 
fruits. Our feet and legs were bathed and poulticed; 
and we sent out and bought good shoes and other 
things necessary to our further journey. By the sixth 
night we were so far recovered from our mountain 
fatigues as to be able to proceed. 

"At ten o'clock on this night the Don said to us, ^ Pre- 
pare to follow me and ask no questions.' We did so, 



42 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

and he led us through the city into a dark valley about 
two miles off, and telling us to hide in the bushes here 
he went farther on down the hollow. When about a 
hundred yards away he gave a shrill whistle, which 
was immediately answered, and we saw — the moon 
shone bright — a tall, active, well-made man spring 
from the rocks and join him. After exchanging a few 
words, they came in the direction of our hiding place 
and called to us to come forth. ^ This man/ said the 
Don, * will conduct you to Vera Cruz. Follow him but 
ask no questions. You need have no fear of his betray- 
ing you, as he is one of the most noted robbers in 
Mexico and he dare not show himself to the authori- 
ties.' So saying, and wishing us Godspeed, the gen- 
erous Bon returned to the city and we followed our 
mysterious guide down the hollow. 

" We had gone but a short distance, when, in a 
dismal-looking place in a cross hollow, we came upon 
a confederate of our guide holding mules, which were 
to be our conveyance to the seacoast. Without speak- 
ing the head man placed a bridle in our hands; we 
mounted and followed on a narrow, winding path lead- 
ing through deep ravines and broken cliffs until day- 
light, not one w^ord passing between us on this long 
ride. 



CASTLE PEROTE 



43 



"Our robber guides now left us, leading away the 
mules and promising to return at night to resume the 
journey. We hid ourselves in a thicket, as usual, and, 
after eating of the provisions left by our guides, lay 
down on the ground and slept soundly till near night. 

" Our guides returned at the appointed time. At a 
sign from them we mounted our mules and followed in 
silence as we had done the night before. Nearly the 
whole of this night we rode in a heavy rain, and part 
of the time in a tremendous storm. Our path was 
narrow, rugged and, at places, quite precipitous; and 
so winding that in the darkness we appeared to be 
merely zigzaging about without making any progress. 
We gave our mules free rein and they, as if conscious 
of their responsibility, picked their way over ground 
that would have been impassable to any other ani- 
mal. ' 

The fifth night of their journey, the travelers drew 
near to the city of Vera Cruz, after having narrowly 
escaped recapture by a squad of cavalry that had been 
sent to intercept them, and death from a sandstorm 
that well-nigh buried all hands. Their robber guides 
had proved true, and the next night conducted them 
to the house of a friend, with whom they were to lodge 
until a vessel should sail for the United States. 



44 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

This friend, like the one at Jalapa, received them 
with the greatest kindness and in every way ministered 
to their comfort. But no boat was in port, and it was 
uncertain when one would arrive; so the Texans were 
little better than prisoners still. They were obliged to 
confine themselves to a small room in their friend's 
house and dared not go out for fear of detection. 

The weather was swelteringly hot and, to make mat- 
ters worse, yellow fever was epidemic in their quarter 
of the town, and scores of people died of it every day. 
Sitting in their dark room — there was but one Avindow 
in it — listening from morn till night to the dismal 
tolling of the bells for the dead and dying and the con- 
tinuous rattle of the death-cart beneath their window, 
what wonder is it that the prisoners soon fancied the 
dreadful malaria coursing through thoir veins? 

In this pest hole our friends remained for thirteen 
days. Then came a knock at their door, followed by 
the entrance of their host, who announced that a vessel 
from the United States was in port and would sail early 
next morning for New Orleans. 

The captain had been informed of the arrival of the 
Texans in Vera Cruz and of their hiding place, and that 
night sent a detail to fetch them on board. About nine 
o'clock the party reached the landing without accident 



CASTLE PEROTE 45 

and slipped into the little boat which was to convey 
them to the American vessel. They w^ere challenged 
by three Mexican men-of-war lying in the offing, but, 
at the risk of being fired upon, they made no reply and 
soon ran alongside the American and clambered 
aboard. 

The commander of the vessel. Captain Lloyd, was an 
old friend of General Green and gave him and his men 
a hearty welcome. On board they found three others 
of the party that had escaped with them from Perote— 
Cornegay, Forrester and Barclay. The two former had 
shipped as firemen and were standing below with 
smutty faces and red flannel shirts, as though they had 
been brought up to the business. 

" We had a good sleep this night," says General 
Green, " and early the next morning the captain told 
me he would go ashore with his boat and, when the 
inspecting officer started to come on board, he would 
make a signal at which I was to go below and crawl 
under the boilers. Steam had been up half an hour, 
when Lloyd made the signal. I went below and 
crawled into the darkest, hottest place imaginable. 
Every five seconds I had to turn over to keep from 
burning to death. I was willing to take a good scorch- 



46 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

ing though, as I had settled in my mind never to be 
taken back to prison alive." 

This ordeal over, with a smooth sea and a clear sky 
the ship weighed anchor and after an uneventful 
voyage of eight days moored at the wharves of New 
Orleans. Two days here and then our friends are again 
on the deep, blue sea, this time bound for the mouth of 
the Brazos and — home! And here let us take leave 
of them. 



Few remain of all that noble band. Some rest in the 
shadow of the dungeons of Old Mexico; some in Texas 
sleep, and 

" Some on the shores of distant lands 
Their weary hearts have laid, 
And by the stranger's heedless hands 
Their lonely graves were made." 

But their fame lives on and will continue to live so 
long as patriotism, bravery and self-sacrifice are virtues 
honored and revered among men. 



BRAVE DICK DOWLING 



Texas History Stories 



BRAVE DICK BOWLING 

In 1845, nine years after San Jacinto, Texas joined 
the j^reat American Union. The Lone Star flag gave 
place to the flag of many stars and stripes. War fol- 
lowed between the United States and Mexico. The 
United States won every battle, and in less than two 
years Mexico begged for peace. 

For many years Texas was prosperous and happy, 
ner fertile soil and delightful climate attracted thou- 
sands of immigrants. Towns and cities sprang up 
everywhere. Great herds of cattle grazed on the 
western plains, and the fields of the east were covered 
with waving grain and snowy cotton. 

Then came rumblings of another storm and war- 
clouds, dark and fearful, settled down upon the coun- 
try. For four long years the States of the South bat- 
tled against the States of the North. What it was all 
about you may read in the history of the United States. 
Sometimes the victory was with one side and some- 

(5) 



TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 




QtiLif cwfMbxico 



SABiNE PASS 



times with the other ; 
but at the last the 
South was beaten and 
had to give up. 

One of the South' s 
greatest victories was 
won in Texas, and by 
Texas soldier boys. 

Sabine Pass, Sept. 
8, 1863 ! Write it in 
letters of gold. Carve 
it high on monuments 
of stone. Grave it on 
the hearts of the peo- 
ple. A greater deed 
was never done since 
the world began. 

Sabine Pass was one 
of the ports or doors 
through which the 
Confederacy, as the 
Southern States were 
called, sent its cotton 
to Europe and brought 
in supplies of arms 
and ammunition. It 



BRAVE DICK BOWLING 



was very important to the South that this door should 
be kept open. The North knew this, and determined 
to close it as she had done other ports. Gunboats 
were stationed at the mouth of the Pass to prevent 
ships from going in or out. 

The Sabine River, before it flow^s into the Gulf of 
Mexico, widens into a lake of some size. The outlet of 
the lake is knowm as Sabine Pass or simply the Pass. 
About five miles from the mouth of the Pass the Con- 
federates had built a small earthw^ork to guard the 
entrance, and to defend the State against invasion 
from this direction. One and a half miles farther up 
the channel was the tow^n of Sabine Pass. Betw^een the 
tow^n and the fort w^as an impassable sw^amp. Through 
this swamp a narrow road had been built by which 
supplies might be brought to the fort. This road stood 
high out of the w^ater, and could be seen for a long 
distance. 

Fort Griffin, as the earthw^ork w^as called, mounted 
six light guns and w^as garrisoned by the Davis Guards, 
a company of Irishmen from Houston. All told, there 
were forty-three men in the fort. Captain F. H. Odium 
at Sabine Pass w^as in command. Lieutenant Richard 
W. Bowling, or " Dick Downing/' as his men loved to 
call him, was in charge at the fort. He was scarcely 



8 TEXAS HISTORY STOKIES 

twenty years of age, and looked a mere boy. Dr. 
George H. Bailey was post-surgeon, and Lieutenant N. 
H. Smith, engineer. 

When General Magruder at Houston learned that 
the Pass was closed he sent two cotton-clad gunboats, 
the Josiah Bell and the Uncle Ben, to open it up again. 
This they succeeded in doing, capturing two of the 
Northern gunboats, the Velocity and the Morning 
Light. 

But the North had more ships and men than the 
South, and it was not long before the Pass was again 
closed. Moreover, an army was sent to capture Fort 
Griffin and to take possession of East Texas. 

About midnight, on Sept. 0, 1863, the soldier on 
guard at the fort, as he looked toward the mouth of the 
Pass, saw an unusual sight. The Hash of guns was 
plainly seen, but no sound was heard. Was it a battle? 
Had the Uncle Ben stolen out in the darkness and at- 
tacked the blockading ships? In some parts of the 
Southern ocean atmospheric lights play around the 
masts of vessels. Could it be these lights? Up and 
down the masts they go; now a red one, then a green 
one, followed by a white one. 

Greatly puzzled, the guard reported what he had 
seen to Lieutenant Dowling. Mounting the earth- 



BRAVE DICK BOWLING 



9 



work and looking seaward, the Lieutenant saw at once 
the meaning of the lights. " Signaling! " he exclaimed, 
as he saw the lights racing after one another. Then 
re-entering the fort, he roused the sleeping soldiers. 
" Wake up; wake up, boys! '' he cried cheerily; " there 
is something brewing and we had better go to work." 

In an instant the men were on their feet and crowd- 
ing- around the lieutenant to hear the news and to take 
his orders. Pointing toward the ships, Dowling re- 
peated his words, " There's something brewing and we 
had better go to work." 

Suiting the action to the word, the men went to their 
several duties, and soon the fort was filled with the 
bustle of preparation. The guns were overhauled and 
primed, and, near each, heaps of pow^der and ball were 
piled; Dr. Bailey got out his splints and bandages; 
Lieutenant Smith, the engineer, went from gun to gun 
to see if they were properly mounted ; while Dowling, 
by a flickering torchlight, studied a chart of the Pass. 

With the earliest dawn every man was on the earth- 
work eagerly scanning the Pass for a glimpse of the 
expected enemy. But no enemy was in sight. It was a 
doleful company that sat down to breakfast that morn- 
ing. Many faces were scowling and mutterings were 



10 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

heard about " losing sleep and having to work all night 
for nothing." 

" Never mind, boys, never mind," said Dowling, try- 
ing to console them; " there is surely something brew- 
ing, and let us prepare for whatever may come." 

The lieutenant was right. About ten o'clock, away 
toward the South, a thin column of smoke w^as seen 
rising out of the water. Another and still others 
appeared, till five were counted. The smoke columns 
grew thicker and darker — they were moving toward 
the Pass. Then the funnel of a gunboat hove in sight; 
then another and another, and the masts of ships — 
one, two, three, four, five. All day long they kept 
coming, till a perfect forest of masts and funnels ob- 
structed the mouth of the river. 

It was General Franklin's army of invasion — five 
gunboats, twenty-two troop ships, fifteen thousand 
soldiers. 

From Sabine Pass Captain Odium sent a message to 
General Magruder telling him of the arrival of the 
fleet and asking w^hat should be done. General Magru- 
der replied that he thought it would be useless to try to 
hold the fort against such odds; that it would be better 
to spike the guns, blow up the fort and retreat; but 



BRAVE DICK DOWLTNG 11 

that he would leave the matter entirely in the hands of 
Captain Odium and Lieutenant Dowling. 

When the dispatch was handed to Dowling, he called 
his men together and read it to them. Then, in a few 
short, earnest words, he spoke of what would happen 
should they retreat — Texas at the mercy of the in- 
vader; her towns burned; her fields laid waste; her 
men imj)risoned; her women and children helpless at 
the feet of the enemy, homeless and starving. " We 
can scarcely hope to win,'' he continued, " but we will 
give them such a check that they'll think twice before 
going any further. What do you say, men? Shall we 
retreat, or shall we stay and fight it out 1 " 

"No, no, no I Fight, fight, fight!'' shouted the men 
in a chorus. 

" Then look to your guns," said Dowling. " See that 
everything is ready. The attack may begin at any 
moment.'' 

There w^as little sleep in the fort that night. In the 
shadow of the coming conflict the men are restless 
and uneasy. Now^ they gather in little groups and in 
low, earnest tones discuss the situation. Now they 
climb the earthwork and watch the shifting lights of 
the fleet; now they examine the guns to see that all 



12 TEXAS HISTORY !?TORTES 

are ready for action; now they throw themselves on 
the ground and try to sleep. 

At daybreak, September 8th, they were all on the 
earthwork again, straining their sight in the direction 
of the fleet. There was much stir and commotion 
among the vessels. Each man, as he gazed, repeated 
to himself his leader's words of the night before — 
^' There's surely something brewing." 

Once more thej^ examined the guns and then set 
about preparing breakfast. A fire was kindled; the 
coft'ee-kettle was singing merrily; and the tempting 
odor of broiled steak was just beginning to rise from 
the coals when — whir-r-r, z-z-zip — a cannon ball fell 
right in their midst, scattering the breakfast in all 
directions. 

"Whew I is that the way you say good morning? 
Well, we'll just return your salute," said the brave 
Irishmen, and every man sprang to his gun. " Not yet, 
boys, not yet," said Dowling; "they are too far off, 
and we haven't a ball or a pound of powder to throw 
away." 

It was the plan of the enemy first to destroy the road 
leading through the swamp to Sabine Pass, so that no 
help could come to the fort; the breakfast ball was 
the signal for the attack to begin. 



BRAVE DICK DOWIJNG 



There were fifteen or twenty sick soldiers in the 
hospital at Sabine Pass, and Dr. Bailey had spent the 
night there caring for them. He expected to return 




DR. GEORGE H. BAILEY 



to the fort before dawn, but the condition of his 
patients was such that he could not leave before sun- 
rise. He heard the thunder of the guns, and longed 
to be back with the brave fellows in the fort. Perhaps 



14 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

some of them were already wounded and needed his 
services. At last his round of duties in the hospital 
was completed. Every sick man had been visited, and 
'lis wants carefully attended to. 

And now^ for the fort! Gathering an armful of 
bandages and other things necessary for " first help," 
the Doctor started on a run down the seemingly 
doomed road. The fire from the ships had now become 
incessant. Shot and shell were rained upon the road. 
Here and there great gaps of earth were torn out by 
the bursting shells. The air was thick with dust and 
smoke. No man could hope to pass through this leaden 
storm with his life. But, unmindful of danger, he hur- 
ried on. 

His comrades in the fort see him come. With breath- 
less anxiety they watch his every footstep, and forget 
their own danger in seeing his. They shout to him 
and w^ave their hands. A shell bursting right in front 
of him hides him for a moment from view. It seems to 
have struck ever}' man in the fort. They stagger back 
like drunken men and throw their hands into the air. 
Their faces are blanched Avith pain, and a cry as of 
mortal agony breaks from every lip — Have they 

KILLED HIM I 

No; God be thanked! he has not been touched. He 



BRAVE DICK DOWLING 15 

seems to bear a cliaruied life. Still clasping bis roll of 
bandages and running Avith all his might, he emerges 
from the smoke and is soon nearing the fort. 

The soldiers stretch their hands to him as the 
starving do for bread. They run to meet him. They 
clutch him in their arms. They wring his hand. They 
shout and laugh and weep by turns, and dance around 
him in their excess of joy. 

About one o'clock in the afternoon the gunboats 
began to advance. The Clifton led the way, closely 
followed by the Sachem, the Arizona and the Granite 
City. Slowly and cautiously they crept along, all their 
guns in action. Short w^ork, it seemed, would be made 
of the little fort. It could not hope to withstand the 
enemy's fire at close range. 

The fort's guns were old and almost unfit for use. 
The best one could not carry above a mile and a half, 
so not a shot had been fired. 

Closer and closer crept the gunboats. By three 
o'clock the foremost was within hailing distance of 
the fort. Then in the intervals of the firing, the men 
on board could be heard shouting, " Come out of your 
hole, Johnny Reb." " Come out and show yourself." 
" Why don't you speak to a fellow? " " Come over and 
take dinner with us." But there was no reply from the 



16 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

fort, and it gave no sign of life. One might have sup- 
loosed that the soldiers had lost hope and fled. 

But, look closer. In the bomb-proofs, crouched down 
beside their guns, their fingers nervously clutching at 
the fuse, the brave Davis Guards impatiently await the 
order to return the gunboats' fire. 

" Wait a litle while, boys, just a little w^hile longer,-' 
said Lieutenant Dowliug, his smiling blue eyes fixed 
upon the advancing gunboats, and a lighted fuse in his 
hand. ^^ I'll give you the signal in a moment. You may 
fire when you hear my gun.'' 

Suddenly a sheet of flame leaps from the fort. In 
thundering tones the lieutenant's gun speaks out and a 
ball falls hissing into the water near the Arizona. 

" Every man to his gun; No. 1, take aim, flre! " then, 
" load and fire at will," said Bowling, speaking rapidly, 
his face all aglow with the ardor of battle. 

They needed no second bidding. Each man sprang 
to his gun with a will. Each knew his place and what 
was expected of him. There was little excitement and 
no fear. All kept perfectly cool and worked their guns 
as fast as human hands could work. They did not even 
take time to swab the guns, which became so hot that 
the hand could not be laid on them comfortably till 
three o'clock next day. And now the fight waxed fast 



BRAVE DICK DOWLIXG 17 

and furious. Gun answered gun in one continuous 
roar. Boats and fort seemed wrapped in fire. Shells 
ploughed their way through the fort, tearing up the 
earth and filling the air with dust. 

One ball from the ships struck the wheel of a gun car- 
riage in the fort, knocking out one of the spokes. The 
piece hit the man who was working the gun, wounding 
him slighth^ He stooped and picked up the spoke, 
and, holding it out to Dr. Bailej-, said, with a laugh, 
" Doctor, the Yanks are getting too familiar.^' No other 
man in the fort was hurt. 

The boats fared worse. Their masts were shot awa}', 
their ropes were cut, and great holes were torn in their 
sides. As if in horror of the work that was going on, 
the battle smoke, like a great white curtain, fell upon 
the scene and hid the combatants from each other. 

Above the roar of the cannon an explosion is heard. 
It sounds like a mighty moan, and dies a way in a fear- 
ful shriek. There is a lull in the firing. The smoke 
lifts for a moment, when the Sachem is seen to lurch 
forward and then fall heavily upon the water as a 
thing without life. Clouds of steam and smoke are 
rising from her funnels. A ball from the fort has 
crunched through her side and exploded her boilers. 
2 



18 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

A white flag is flying from her masthead^ and she seems 
to be in great distress. 

All the gnns of the fort were now turned on the Clif- 
ton. Every shot took effect, and, in less time than it 
takes to tell it, she, too, had hauled down her colors. 
Then the Arizona came in for a pounding. She was 
already crippled and backing away out of range of 
the guns. To keep from sinking she was seen to 
throw overboard horses, j)rovisions and everything 
that would tend to lighten her. The jDoor horses had 
halters tied around their forefeet and sank immedi- 
ately. Some of the bacon and flour drifted ashore, 
where it was afterwards picked up for use at the 
fort. 

The battle was over. The troop-ships steamed away, 
and Texas was saved from the hand of the invader. 

The Texans were astonished at the results of their 
victory. They had captured two gunboats and crippled 
a third; taken three hundred and fifty prisoners, 
thirteen cannon, many small arms and large quantities 
of ammunition and provisions. On board the gunboats 
three officers and ninety-four men were killed. The 
fort lost not a man. 

The Sachem was towed to the wharf, but the Clifton 
had run aground, and could not be moved. The prison- 



BRAVE DICK DOWLING 19 

ers from both boats were taken to the fort. Captain 
Crocker, of the Clifton, was among the prisoners. 
Mounting the earthworks, he asked for the command- 
ing officer. Begrimed with powder and covered with 
dust, Lieutenant Bowling presented himself. The 
Federal officer could hardly believe his eyes. This 
dirty little boy his conqueror! It must be some jest, 
he thought. "And where are your soldiers? '^ he asked 
the Lieutenant. " Here," said Bowling, pointing to 
the handful of men guarding the prisoners. 

"Are these all?" 

"All," said Bowling. 

The officer hung his head and muttered to himself, 
" Four gunboats and fifteen thousand men defeated by 
this boy and his forty-two Irishmen! It is something 
unheard of! " 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 




r22n[^ 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 23 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE * 

Robert Edward Lee was born on the 19tli of January, 
1807, in Westmoreland county, Virginia. In this 
county George Washington, too, was born. Not many 
miles away were born Sam Houston and Stephen F. 
Austin. When Lee was born, Washington had been 
dead seven years, and Houston and Austin were boys 
fourteen years old. 

Robert's father was General Henry Lee. He fought 
with Washington in the great war that made our 
country free from England. He w^as sometimes called 
" Light Horse Harry Lee." He got this name from 
being the leader of a band of fast-riding soldiers called 
the '^Light Horse Legion." 

It was General Henry Lee w^ho said of Washington 
that he was " First in war, first in peace, and first in 
the hearts of his countrymen." 

Robert had two brothers, Charles and Sidney, and 
two sisters, Anne and Mildred. 

W'hen Robert was four years old his father moved 

* Lee's service on the Texas frontier and the incident at the battle of 
the Wilderness is considered a sufficient warrant for placing the story of 
his life in Texas History Stories. 



24 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

from Ms country home to the little city of Alexandria 
to send his children to school. 

The school to which Robert was sent was kept in a 
queer little yellow house. Because the walls were yel- 
low the boys called the house " Brimstone Castle.-' 

Robert's father was not well and was away from 
home much of the time hunting for health. In one of 
his letters home he said, " Tell be about Anne. Has 
she grown tall? Robert was always good." 

No more manly boy could be found in all the coun- 
try round. He was brave, kind-hearted and true, 
and everybody loved him. He was gentle and 
thoughtful of his mother, and did everything he 
could to help her. When she was sick he took the 
keys and ''kept house" for her. 

He was a good boy at school, was polite and re- 
spectful to his teachers, was careful to obey the 
rules, was always on time and never failed in a single 
recitation. 

When Robert was eleven years old his father died. 
The family stayed at Alexandria, and Robert was 
kept at school till he was eighteen years old. During 
all these years he was thinking of what he might do, 
when he became a man, to make him worthy of his 
great father. He hoped to become a soldier like his 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 25 

father. He, too, would command a " light-horse legion" 
and fight for his country. 

At West Point, New York, there is a great school 
where young men are trained to become soldiers. To 
this school Robert went Avhen he was eighteen years 
of age. Here, as at ^^ Brimstone Castle," he made a 
good name for himself. He stayed here four years, and 
in all this time he never got a bad mark. In his studies 
none stood higher. On the drill grounds he carried 
himself like a soldier and seldom made a mistake. He 
was careful of his dress, and in his gray and white 
soldier suit he looked the perfect gentleman. It is 
said that he kept his gun so bright that the inspecting 
officer could see his face in its barrel. He was grad- 
uated in 1829, standing second in his class. He was 
now made a lieutenant in the United States army. 

You may be sure his mother was very proud of him 
when he returned home. Such a handsome, brave, 
manly fellow he was. And how glad he was to be at 
home again with his dear mother! To him home was 
a sacred place, and mother the sweetest word known. 

How delightful the days were, and how short! Mrs. 
Lee never tired of hearing Robert tell of his life at 
the famous school, and he, sitting by her side and 



26 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

holding- her hand fondly in his, would have her tell of 
herself and the old home while he was away. 

Not every day is full of sunshine. Some are dark 
and dreary. The dark days came to Robert, or Lieu- 
tenant Lee, as we may now call him, when his dear 
mother fell sick. This happened not Yerj long after 
his return home. Day and night he sat by her bed- 
side. No hand but his could give her food or medi- 
cine. No voice could quiet her restlessness and soothe 
her to sleep like Robert's. But with all his love and 
care he could not save her. She died blessing Robert 
and saying what a good son he had been to her. 

Lieutenant Lee now returned to the army and joined 
the engineer corps. It is the duty of army engineers 
to plan and build forts, to straighten the channels of 
rivers, to deepen harbors and protect the land from 
the sea. 

When Lieutenant Lee was twenty-four years old, 
he was married to Miss Mary Custis, the great-grand- 
daughter of Mrs. George Washington. 

Mrs. Lee had a beautiful home, called Arlington, on 
the Potomac River, near the city of Washington. 

For two years after his marriage Lieutenant Lee and 
his lovely wife lived in this beautiful home. Tie was 
then called to Washington by the President. 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 27 

When heavy rains fall in the northern part of our 
country the waters of the great Mississippi River 
spread over the land far and wide. Homes are washed 
away, and often many people are drowned. At this 
time the river had broken over its banks at St. Louis 
and threatened to do much damage. The President 
sent Lieutenant Lee to St. Louis to see if he could not 
find some way of keeping the river in. It was a hard 
task, but Lee was a good engineer, and he soon forced 
the waters back into the right channel. For this work 
the President made him captain of engineers and sent 
him to New York to build forts to protect that great 
city. 

In 1846, when Lee was thirty-nine years old, war 
broke out between the United States and Mexico. 

Nine years after the battle of San Jacinto Texas 
joined the United States. She was free and could do 
as she pleased. But Santa Anna did not think so. He 
still claimed Texas for Mexico, and this is what the 
w^ar was about. 

General Winfield Scott was the commander of the 
United States army. Captain Lee and his company of 
engineers were sent to Mexico with the army to build 
roads and bridges, and to mount the big guns. 

General i^cott was much pleased with the way the 



28 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

young officer performed his duties. He was asked to 
attend the councils of war, and whatever he said was 
listened to with attention. Not onl}^ as an engineer, 
but as a soldier, he won the praise of General Scott. 
Wherever the fighting was fiercest, there he was to be 
found. 

On his march to the City of Mexico, General Scott's 
army came upon a strong fort, high up in the moun- 
tains. It was right in his way, and it must be taken. 
Captain Lee was asked to take it. There w^as but one 
road up the mountain. This was strongly guarded by 
the Mexicans. It was plain that the fort would have to 
be approached by some other way, so Captain Lee set 
liimself to thinking of another plan. He said, " If we 
can't march against them, we must get behind them, 
ril try." 

Where there is a will, there is a way. He found a 
place where a path might be cut through the mountains, 
to come out right behind the Mexicans. The path was 
steep and rugged. Here a great rock stood in the way; 
there a frightful chasm was to be crossed; yonder a 
steep cliff had to be scaled. In spite of these hindrances 
the path was soon completed, and the march up the 
mountain side begun. Captain Lee led the way. With 
much difficulty the men pulled themselves up the steep 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 29 

slopes, dragging the cannon after them. When all 
were up, the guns were planted and turned upon the 
enemy. 

The Mexicans never dreamed of anything so daring. 
They felt perfectly safe in their mountain fort. The 
thunder of Lee's guns so surprised and frightened them 
that they surrendered almost without a blow. 

From here Captain Lee wrote to his son Custis: "I 
thought of you, my dear Custis, in the battle, and 
wondered, when the musket balls and grape were 
whistling over my head, where I could put you, if with 
me, to be safe. I was truly thankful you w^ere at 
school, I hope learning to be good and wise. You have 
no idea w^hat a horrible sight a battle field is.'' 

There w^ere many other battles in which Lee took 
part. In all of them he conducted himself so bravely 
that he was again and again promoted. When the war 
ended he w^as Colonel Lee. General Scott said that his 
success in the war was " largely due to the skill and 
courage of Robert E. Lee," and, again, "he was the 
best soldier I ever saw in the field." 

When the war was over, Lee went home for a short 
rest. He loved all children dearly; he w'as devoted to 
his own. Hand in hand with them he would ramble 
through the great parks at Arlington, and tell them 



30 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

true stories of his adventures in the war, or, with his 
boys, he would gallop over the fields to look at the 
growing crops. On these excursions he told them how 
the estate had once belonged to the family of George 
Washington; how it should be preserved in honor of 
the memory of that great man, and that it should never 
be allowed to pass into the hands of strangers. 

But there was other work for Colonel Lee to do. He 
was made superintendent of the great military school 
at West Point, w^here he had gone as a student twenty 
years before. Here he stayed for three years teaching 
and training the boys who should one day become offi- 
cers in the army. 

Away out on the plains of Texas the Comanche 
Indians were giving trouble. Of all the Indians in 
Texas the Comanches were the most savage and cruel. 
They ate raw^ meat, slept on the ground, and w^ere great 
thieves. Without warning, they would sweep down 
upon the small white settlements, kill and scalp the 
settlers, and drive off their horses and cattle. The 
whole country was filled with terror by these raids. 

A messenger was sent to Washington to ask the 
President for help. No one was thought to be so w^ell 
fitted for this w^ork as Colonel Robert E. Lee. He was 



EGBERT EDWARD LEE 31 

put in command of the Second Cavalry, and sent at 
once to the aid of the Texans. 

Lee was an engineer. For more than twent}^ years 
he had been working in that branch of the service. He 
liked it, and it was with much regret that he gave it 
up. But his likes and dislikes were not to be thought 
of. Where duty called, there it was his place to be. 
Duty with him stood before everything else. In a let- 
ter to one of his sons, written from Texas, he said: 
" Duty is the sublimest word in our language. Do your 
duty in all things. You cannot do more; you should 
never wish to do less. Never let me or your mother 
wear one gray hair for any lack of duty on your part." 

His command was stationed at lonely forts out on 
the western prairies. For miles and miles on every 
side the country stretched till earth and sky seemed 
to meet. Not a house, not even a tree, was to be seen. 
There were no railroads and no telegraphs, and news 
from the great world seldom reached the forts. The 
United States mail was carried by armed soldiers on 
small mules. These mail carriers were often attacked 
and killed by the Indians. Their mail sacks were then 
cut open, and the precious letters and papers were 
scattered over the prairie. 

Besides the loneliness of the country, the trying 



32 TEXAS HISTORY STOEIES 

weather caused the soldiers much suffering. The sun 
was very hot, the air like a blast from a furnace, and 
the water salt. Many of the men got sick, and a bright 
little boy, son of one of the soldiers, died. Colonel 
Lee spent the Fourth of July under his blanket, raised 
on four sticks driven in the ground, as a sunshade. 

At other times fierce northers would sweep over the 
plains, leaving death and destruction behind them. A 
kiss of their icy breath, a touch of their snow^y fingers, 
and man and beast alike sank down and died. 

He is never lonesome who has the company of noble 
thoughts. Some natures find good in everything. Such 
a nature was Lee's. In the midst of the desert he found 
pleasure in his own thoughts, in the plumage of the 
birds and the beauty of the flowers. Neither winter's 
chilling touch nor summer's burning breath could 
draw from him one word of complaint. Of evil he 
would not think, and the good was ever before him. 
There was sunshine in his soul. 

To Mrs. Lee he wrote: " We are all in the hands of a 
kind God who will do for us what is best." "Do not 
worry yourself about things you cannot help." "Lay 
nothing too much to heart." " I feel always as safe in 
the w^ilderness as in the crowded city. I know in 
whose powerful hands I am, and on Him I rely." 



KOBERT EDWARD LEE 33 

To his children he wrote delightful letters about 
dolls and cats and ponies and other things that chil- 
dren like to hear about. On Christmas he wrote to his 
wife: " I hope you had a joyous Christmas at Arlington. 
I thought of you all, and wished to be with you. I 
tried to find some little presents for the children in 
the fort, but had hard w^ork of it. The stores here 
keep few such things. But by taking a week before- 
hand in my daily walks I picked up, little by little, 
something for all. Tell Mildred I got a beautiful 
Dutch doll for little Emma Jones — one of those crying- 
babies that can open and shut its eyes. For the two 
other little girls, Puss Shirly and Mary Sewell, I found 
handsome French teapots. I satisfied the boys with 
knives and books.'' 

To his youngest daughter he w^rote: " I want to see 
you so much. Can you not pack up and come to the 
Comanche country. I would get you such a fine cat 
you w^ould never look at ^ Tom' again. I saw^ in San 
Antonio a cat dressed up for company. He had two 
holes bored in each ear, and in each were two bows 
of pink and blue ribbons. His round face, set in pink 
and blue, looked like a big owl in a full-blooming ivy 
bush. He was snow wliite, and wore a gold collar 



34 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

around his neck. His tail and feet were tipped with 
black, and his eyes of green were truly catlike." 

One morning a letter was brought to Lee which 
troubled him greatly. At the same time it gave him 
pleasure. It was from the President, calling him home 
at once. It gave him pleasure because he should now 
be with his family again. For many years a quarrel 
had been going on between the States of the North 
and the States of the South. What the quarrel was 
about would take too long to tell here. For a long 
time it had looked as if there would be a war between 
the States. Lee feared there would be war, and this 
was what troubled him. He feared he had been 
called home to fight in this quarrel ; and this he did 
not wish to do. He did not wish to fight against the 
North. He could not fight against the South. When 
he reached home he found his worst fears were true. 
The people were wild with excitement. Everywhere 
there was talk of war. 

Both sides wanted Lee's help. General Scott, his old 
commander in the war with Mexico, said he would be 
worth 50,000 men to the North. President Lincoln 
offered him the chief command of the Northern armies, 
and General Scott begged him to take it. 

But he could not do it. Virginia, his own beloved 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 35 

State, was on the other side. He could not fight against 
her. He said, " I cannot fight against my relatives, my 
children, my home. I have been a soldier of the United 
States, but I am a son of Virginia, and I must do as my 
State does." 

For thirty years he had belonged to the United 
States army. For thirty years he had fought under 
the starry banner of the Union. For that same banner 
his blood had been shed, and he loved it with a true 
soldier's devotion. But he could not fight against his 
home even under its starry folds. 

It cost him many a pang to quit the service, but duty 
called him to do so, and he obeyed without question. 
He gave up his position as colonel in the United States 
army, and went back to his home at Arlington. From 
here he wrote to his brother : " I am now a private 
citizen. Save in defence of my native State, I have no 
desire ever again to draw^ my sw^ord." 

But he was not allowed to remain a private citizen. 
The war was on, and Virginia needed him. He was 
made major-general of the Virginia troops, and then 
commander-in-chief of all the Southern armies. 

The States of the South were now called the Confed- 
erate States, and those of the North the Federal States. 



36 TEXAS HISTOKY STOIJIES 

Jefferson Davis was President of the Confederate 
States, and Richmond, Virginia, was the capital city. 
Abraham Lincoln was President of the Northern 
States. 

The soldiers of the North w^ore a uniform of blue, 
while those of the South wore gray; and they were 
sometimes called " the blue " and '^ the gray.'' 

These were stormy times. " The drums beat all day 
long. Flags waved in every direction. Trains were 
loaded with armed men going to battle and to death. 
Men and w^omen wept in the streets as they cheered 
the boys who were going off to the war. People hardly 
took time to eat and sleep." 

The first gun was fired at Fort Sumter in South 
Carolina, April 12, 1861. 

The war lasted four years. Many great battles were 
fought, and thousands of brave men lost their lives." 

When the Northern armies invaded Virginia, Gen- 
eral Lee did all that man could do to drive them back. 
His men fought as soldiers had never fought before. 
All the w^orld wondered. 

Four times great Union armies, commanded by the 
best generals of the North, were sent against him, but 
he proved more than a match for them all. 

Once again a mighty army was raised, and General 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 37 

U. S. Grant was placed in command. Grant knew Lee 
well; they had been in the Mexican war together. He 
knew^ that to win he must fight hard, and keep on 
fighting. When he was asked how long it would take 
him to get to Richmond, Grant said, " Well, about four 
days if General Lee is willing; if he isn't it will take a 
good deal longer." 

Grant had more than twice as many soldiers as Lee. 
They were w^ell armed, well drilled, and well clothed. 
They were fresh and ready for action. A wagon train 
of provisions and supplies, sixty-five miles long, went 
with them. Lee's troops were worn out with con- 
stant marching and fighting. They were short of am- 
munition. They were ragged and barefoot. They 
often had nothing to eat save a few grains of parched 
corn. And now the most dreadful battles of the war 
took place. Neither side would give up. Grant was 
determined to take Richmond; Lee was determined 
that he should not. Once when things seemed to be 
going badly for Grant, he was asked what he meant to 
do. '' Fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer," 
he replied. 

In the great battle of the Wilderness, when all 
seemed lost to the Confederates, General Lee rode to 
the front. The very ground shook with the thunder of 



38 TEXAS HISTORY STOKIES 

the guns. A thick veil of smoke hung over the field, 
as if to hide the dreadful work that was going on. 
Uigh above the roar of the cannon could be heard the 
clashing of swords, and the musketry's rattle; the 
shouts of the soldiers as they urged each other on, and 
the cries of the wounded as they sank down to die. 

Something must be done, and that quickly, if the 
army is to be saved from ruin. Turning to the soldiers 
around him, Lee asked: "What boys are these?'' 
" Texas boys," was the quick reply. " Well, my Texas 
boys, you must charge." 

A wild yell breaks from the ranks of the Texans. 
Their blood catches fire as they hear Lee himself give 
the order to charge. They rush forward like a whirl- 
wind, bearing everything before them, w^hile Lee rides 
at their head, waving his old gray hat and urging 
them on. 

The men see their leader's danger, and shout for him 
to go back. On him the hopes of the South are fixed. 
Should he fall, all would, indeed, be lost. From a thou- 
sand throats leaps forth the cry, " Go back. General 
Lee; go back! " " Lee to the rear! Lee to the rear! " 

Lee seems not to hear. His eyes are fixed upon the 
enemy's lines. His thoughts are bent on victory. With 



EGBERT EDWAJH) LEE 



39 



sword raised high in air, and still waYing his old gray 

hat, he rushes forward, crying, "Charge, boys, charge I" 

And now a strange thing happens. A tall, lean, 

ragged Texan sergeant moves quickly from the ranks. 



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LEE TO THE REAR: 



seizes the General's horse by the bridle, and turns his 
head to the rear. 

Lee's heart was touched. The tears welled to his 
eyes. These brave fellows were willing to die for him 
if he would only spare himself. He must do as they 
wish. So he rode away to another part of the field. 

Yelling like madmen, the Texans continue the 



40 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

charge. They are shut in by a circle of fire. The very 
clouds seem to rain bullets. Half of their number fall 
within ten minutes. The enemy's lines give way be- 
fore them, and the day is saved. 

Afterwards General Lee said to one of his aides, 
" Get me more Texans and I will feel more sure of vic- 
tory." But what Lee gained in one way he lost in 
another. Many of his men were killed and wounded, 
and there were no others to fill their places. His grand 
army of sixty thousand men that first met Grant 
melted away to nine thousand. These were ragged 
and starving. Grant had all the men he wanted. When 
one of his soldiers was killed there were always fresh 
ones ready to take his place. More than two hundred 
thousand Federal soldiers stood facing Lee's little 
army in front of Richmond. 

Step by step Lee was pushed back. One morning 
news was brought to him that the troops in front were 
not able to fight their waj- out. At these words a great 
sadness fell upon Lee. He saw that the end was near, 
and it almost broke his heart. He felt that it would 
be wrong to allow any more of his brave soldiers to be 
killed when there was no hope of winning. ^' There is 
nothing left," he said, " but to go to General Grant, 
and I would rather die a thousand deaths." 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE " 41 

Dressing himself carefully in a new suit of Confed- 
erate gray, he rode out to meet General Grant. The 
meeting place was a farmhouse midway between the 
lines of the two armies. 

After talking over the situation, General Lee decided 
to surrender. His army was not whipped— it had 
never been really whipi^ed — but outnumbered. There 
was no longer any hope of winning. It would be a 
useless waste of life to keep up the fighting. 

General Grant did not gloat over his victory. He 
was very kind to General Lee and his men, and made 
the terms of surrender as easy as he could. All he 
asked was that General Lee should promise for himself 
and his soldiers not to fight any more against the 
United States. He did not take General Lee's sword. 
The men gave up their guns, but General Grant told 
them they might take their horses home with them 
" to w ork their little farms." 

When the papers had all been signed, General Lee 
told General Grant of the starving condition of his 
troops; that for several days they had had nothing to 
eat but parched corn. Grant at once gave orders to his 
soldiers to share their rations w ith the Confederates. 
Soon the strange sight Avas seen of men who for days 



42 TEXAS HISTOKY STORIES 

and weeks had been fighting each other, good 
naturedlj chatting and eating together. 

After thanking General Grant for his kindness, Lee 
rode awaj to break the sad news to his troops. When 
the soldiers saw their good General coming back — a 
prisoner of war — their grief was heart-rending. Thej 
crowded around him, trying to take his hand, touch 
his person, or even to lay a hand upon his horse. Tears 
were running down every cheek. Strong men were 
sobbing as if their hearts would break. Between the 
sobs prayers were heard calling down the blessings 
of heaven upon their beloved leader. " God bless him I" 
"God help him!" "God bless 'Mars Robert!' " went 
up from ten thousand hearts. 

With head bare and tears streaming from his eyes, 
Lee took leave of his army. In a tone trembling with 
sorrow he said: "Men, we have fought the war 
together. I have done my best for you. But it is all 
over now, and you can return to your homes in peace. 
I earnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to 
you His blessing and protection. Farewell! '' 

This surrender happened at a place called Appo- 
mattox Courthouse, in Virginia, on the 9th day of 
April, 1865. 



ROBERT EDWAED LEE 43 

A few days afterward Lee rode into Richmond, 
where his wife was staying. The people heard of his 
coming, and lined the roads to see and welcome him. 
Though defeated and a paroled prisoner of war, they 
loved him still. 

General Lee lost almost everything he owned by 
those four dreadful years of war. Beautiful Arlington 
had been captured by the Federals, and he had no 
home to which he could go and rest. A kind friend in 
Richmond tendered him a house, and here he and his 
family lived for awhile. 

He longed for quiet, and this could not be had in the 
city. To a friend he wrote: "I am looking for some 
little quiet house in the woods, where I can procure 
shelter and my daily bread." 

The " quiet house in the woods " was found, and in 
June, 1865, Lee and his family moved into it. After so 
many years of toil and strife, this quiet was delightful. 
It was Lee's wish to pass the remainder of his days 
here, taking no part in the affairs of the great world 
outside. He was getting old, and he felt that his work 
was done. 

But not so thought the world. It was not ready to 
spare him yet. It had other work for him to do. He 



44 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

was elected president of Wasliiiigton College, Lexing- 
ton^ Virginia. He had lead the fathers to battle — he 
was now to lead the sons in the paths of peace and 
learning. 

When it became known that General Lee was at the 
head of the college, hundreds of joung men from all 
over the South flocked to Lexington, that they might 
have him for their teacher. And such a teacher as he 
w^asl So gentle, kind, patient and thoughtful of others. 
His own life was as good a lesson as anything that 
could be learned from books. His pupils loved him as 
much as his soldiers had done. They honored him 
above all other men, and tried to be as good and true 
and noble as he was. 

And all the love of his great heart was poured out 
on the college and on his boys, as he called the 
students. For them he thought and planned and 
worked and prayed. He wanted this to be the best 
college, and these boys the best men in the whole 
country. 

Thus he lived and labored for five years. Then the 
end came. The great and good man, the splendid 
soldier, the quiet, modest college president, closed his 
eyes on earthh^ things, and his pure spirit went home 
to rest with God. 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 45 

He died at half-past nine o'cloclv October 12, 1870, in 
the sixty-fourth year of his age. " He died of a broken 
heart, caused by the surrender at Appomattox, the 
sorrow of the South, and the grief of his friends/' 

Just before he passed away he was heard to murmur 
in his sleep, " Tell Hill he must come up." Or»ce more, 
in thought, he was among his much-loved soldiers, and 
was fighting over again the dreadful battles of the war. 
Tolling bells broke the sad news to the people of Lex- 
ington, and electric wires flashed it round the w^orld — 
" Lee is dead! Lee is dead! " 

The hearts of all mankind were bowed with grief. 
Everywhere throughout the South there were signs of 
deepest mourning. All business w^as stopped. The 
schools were closed. Great meetings were held to 
express the grief of the people. The Legislature of 
Virginia made his birthday a holiday. In honor of his 
memory, the trustees of the college changed its name 
to Washington and Lee College. 

His body was laid to rest in a brick vault in the 
college chapel, October 15, 1870. A few days after- 
ward his wife and daughter, Agnes, were laid beside 
him. 

Above the vault, on a pedestal of pure white marble, 



46 TEXAS HISTORY STORIES 

lies the figure of Lee, the soldier, taking his rest, with 
his martial cloak around him. One side of the pedestal 
bears this inscription: 

Robert Edward Lee, 
liorn January 19, 1807; Died October 12, 1870. 



MOV e leoi 



PCI 19 1901 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




